LGBT community comes out of closet over film screenings, panel discussions, painting and book exhibitions, and a reading session at first openly held queer fest in city

Coming straight to the point at Q-Fest

LGBT community comes out of closet over film screenings, panel discussions, painting and book exhibitions, and a reading session at first openly held queer fest in city

The weekend saw the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in the city come out of the closet and take a giant leap for its emancipation with the first openly held queer fest.

And, looking at the response Q-Fest Pune 2010 got, the LGBT community decided it would take part in the Pune International Marathon next year to make the community's voice louder in society.

The weekend fest had film screenings, panel discussions, painting and book exhibitions and a reading session, and was attended by more than 100 people.

"It's a great response that we have received. Earlier, there were fests but they were held at somebody's farmhouse or residence. This time it is all in the open," said Sagar, co-founder, Birds of a Feather. "It's not just the LGBT group but many others who are part of the fest."

Last year, after the Delhi High Court's landmark verdict that said any sex between consenting adults should be considered legal, there were plans to hold a queer parade in the city. But that plan petered out as groups went to Mumbai instead to join the parade there.

Now, looking at response to Q-Fest Pune 2010, the numerous groups and organisers have decided to join the Pune International Marathon 2011 to test the waters.

"Rather than directly starting off with the paradem where we may or may not get much of a response, we want to join the marathon as a group," said Sagar. "There are various groups in the marathon who participate for the charity run. We will do the same thing, which will help us get a clear picture on the amount of support we get from members in the city."

A representative of Open Space, one of the organisers, said that he was happy looking at the full house during the two-day fest.

Commenting on joining the Pune Marathon, he said there were various issues to be looked at before doing so.
"But we will definitely be part of the pride march to be held next year," said he. "Though the dates have not been fixed, it's certainly happening."

Some of well known names who attended the panel discussion were photographer Sunil Gupta, author Arun Mirchandani, fimmaker Ashish Sawhney and Shobhna S Kumar, founder of Queer Ink.

The event was organised by Open Space, a public forum, Birds of a Feather and The Queer Chronicle, along with the support of other groups like Azbaz, Queer Ink, the Humsafar Trust, WhaQ, Swabhava, Good as You and Gay Bombay.