Parindey March, Pune’s 9th LGBTQ pride parade, was held on Sunday, where hundreds of members from the LGBTQ community participated. Sameer Samudra and Amit Gokhale, the only Indian couple to participate in the march, tied the wedding knot recently in the US. Samudra is the founder, Cummins Pride ERG eEmployee resource group) and director, customer support excellence, Cummins India. He speaks to Prachi Bari about why it took him and “his husband” seven months to rent a an apartment in Pune; and why he still believes Pune will be at the heart of the movement to support and accept the LGBTQ community.
What needs to be done for acceptance of LGBTQ+ people?
We need more sensitivity and awareness on this topic. Mainstream society need to understand that LGBTQ+ people are very much part of our social fabric and they deserve equal rights. Also, more visibility of LGBTQ+ individuals is needed so that this will be mainstreamed and will not be a taboo.
Has Pune opened up ?
Pune is slowly opening up to LGBTQ individuals. Millenials are definitely much more accepting of this community than other generations. Pune has a strong history of social change and social movements, so I am hopeful that Pune will slowly open up.
Personally, how did your company accepted you? And your family? What difficulties did you face?
My company Cummins values diversity and inclusion and talent of all individuals. I have formed employee resource group for LGBTQ+ employees and their allies. Company is very much supportive of this demographic. Personally, both sets of our parents have now accepted me and my partner, and our life. For us, our immediate family members’ acceptance mean the most. Living life on our own terms comes at a price, so we face that the acceptance from relatives and majority of society doesn’t come easily. Even getting a home to rent took us seven months. Socially, there is a lot of taboo on this topic and that shows in people’s treatment towards us. On this backdrop, it becomes very important to remain patient and persistent.
{{/usCountry}}My company Cummins values diversity and inclusion and talent of all individuals. I have formed employee resource group for LGBTQ+ employees and their allies. Company is very much supportive of this demographic. Personally, both sets of our parents have now accepted me and my partner, and our life. For us, our immediate family members’ acceptance mean the most. Living life on our own terms comes at a price, so we face that the acceptance from relatives and majority of society doesn’t come easily. Even getting a home to rent took us seven months. Socially, there is a lot of taboo on this topic and that shows in people’s treatment towards us. On this backdrop, it becomes very important to remain patient and persistent.
{{/usCountry}}Why is such the pride parade important?
Visibility of LGBTQ+ individuals is important as that creates more awareness about this community. Also these parades are good platform to showcase the success as well as challenges of this community. Parades like these give lot of confidence to individuals who are not yet out to know that there is a big community out there to support them. That’s why it is important for straight allies to show support to these events. This year I walked with my husband to celebrate scrapping of section 377 and to demand equal marriage act. I am married to Amit legally in the US, however, our marriage is not legal in India. We need marriage equality laws to ensure members of LGBTQ+ community also live with pride and dignity like anyone else.