PINK balloons and painted faces stood out amidst the rush of office-goers on a grey evening at Flora Fountain.
A row of people, who held up banners with catchlines that would make a copywriter proud, stood next to the statue.
‘Pyaar Hua Ikraar Hua Queer Hua To Kya Hua’ screamed a multi-coloured banner. While some passers-by didn’t hide their smirks, a handful participated in a signature drive to amend Section 377.
‘‘Lagta hai kya aapko (Do I look gay)?’’ asked a mocking passer-by, when asked if he belonged to the gay community. The 21-year-old advertising professional claimed to support the cause of equal rights for homosexuals and transgenders.
‘‘Isse Bobby Darling famous hai (Bobby Darling is famous because of this),’’ said 24-year-old Raj Kaudhare, who believed that homosexual men have already been embraced by the public via Bollywood.
Film-maker Onir (35), who recently directed My Brother Nikhil, which tackled a gay relationship for the first time in Indian cinema, narrated how he encountered closed minds during its making.
‘‘I was asked to change the central character to a heterosexual when I looked for funding,’’ he said, ‘‘Very often, films include gay caricatures that turn out to be negative and I’d rather have no exposure than bad exposure.’’
As flashbulbs went off and the protesters took a break, the protest showed signs of turning into another spectacle. But a visibly frightened 21-year-old, who shied away from cameras, symbolised the purpose of the march: ‘‘Once the law is amended, people like me can live in dignity.’’
Section 377
Whoever has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 10 years, and shall also be liable to a fine.
Some reasons why the protest was held included the fact that Section 377:
* implies that people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender are criminals and that sexual acts that do not lead to procreation are illegal
* does not distinguish sex between two willing adult partners and molestation / rape
* was brought into India by the British in 1860, who discarded this law in their own country in 1967