City gays showed social responsiblity as they cancelled trip with a heavy heart because they did not want to spread the H1N1 virus

City's Lesbian Gay Bi-sexual, Transgenders (LGBT) community decided to give Sunday's gay parade in Mumbai a miss in view of the swine flu situation.

Saanz, a counsellor working for MSM, a gay rights group, said, "We are disappointed that we could not participate but we had to take this step as a matter of social

responsibility." Lacchi, a transgender, is understandably upset. "We were euphoric following the recent Delhi High Court ruling, decriminalisingu00a0 homosexuality and wanted to express our jubilation at the parade. We even made some posters with messages like 'same sex is not a crime'," said Lacchi.

Epicentre
Bindumadhav Khire, president of Samapatheek Trust, another gay rights' organisation in the city, said, "Twelve of us from Samapatheek were to participate in Mumbai's gay parade, but decided to stay away because Pune is the epicentre of swine flu. We don't want to infect others. Our office in Budhwar Peth was closed from Thursday to Sunday, and we have temporarily suspended all our services such as condom
distribution."