Minutes of the Queer Pride planning meeting held on 9th May 2009 at Indian
Coffee House, CP, New Delhi.
Next Meeting: Saturday, 23.05.2009, 6 pm at India Coffee House, Mohan Singh
Place!
Date: Sunday, 28 June, 2009!
Route
Same as last year, from the corner of Tolstoy Marg and Barakhamba Road to
Jantar Mantar, with a gathering at Jantar Mantar afterwards.
Logo
- Same basic logo as last year, with new dates. Pavi and Mayur to send it
out by the day after.
- last year some people felt that the HIndi translation (which said dilli
sanglengik aur transgender garv utsav) excludes bisexuals and some other
queer people. There is no equivalent for queer, which is what the english
logo said. Sarvalengik was suggested as an option instead of sanglengik.
Opinions?
- Hi-res versions of the logo should be put up on the blog so that people
can download it and use it themselves.
Police Permission:
Someone will need to go to the Parliament Street Police Station and get the
permissions. Sid volunteered to at the last meeting, Zahid and Aarti at this
one. They will need to know what sort of permission to get, apart from the
basic march/protest one, depending on what other elements (microphones,
stages, floats etc) the parade has this year, so that needs to be finalised
quickly.
People in charge of Police Permissions: Aarti Sethi, Zahid, Sid
Press:
Last year, the Queer Media Collective issued an official press release on
the day before the parade. Will do the same this year.
Media carried lots of stories beforehand, and again we will need people
willing to be interviewed, both for press and TV, radio etc. Volunteers, of
all identities and who can speak in various languages are needed for this.
Please write in with what you're willing to do!
People who have volunteered so far:
Zahid (hindi/urdu)
Sunil (hindi)
Udit
Mayur
Anand
Amelie
Lesley (to be asked)
Ponni (to be asked - hindi, english, print and broadcast interviews)
Rajesh
Other Publicity:
Leafleting:
- Writing the leaflet -- Mayur and Gautam Bhan. Will send it to the list for
commentary.
- Translating: HINDI: Ritu, Aaditya, PUNJABI: Kunal, URDU: Zahid, Aarti
- Printing: NIrantar might do the printing.
- Distribute: Kunal, Rajesh.
- Kunal had offered to put leaflets into newspapers in East Delhi. There was
a lot of enthusiasm for the idea initially, but we realised that many
thousands of leaflets will be needed. Instead, leaflets will be distributed
in the areas that are least likely to hear about the queer pride through
other means.
Zahid: Jamia, various hijra groups.
Kunal: East Delhi
Sita: Patel Nagar
More volunteers please!
Posters:
- Content: Mayur and Pavi
- Printing: Approximately 1000. Mohnish, Zahid, Amit
- Distribute: hire someone to plaster the city
Listings in Press:
FIrst City: Mohnish, Aarti,
Time Out: Shalini
Regional Languages: Zahid, Kunal, Ritu,
Wire Agencies: Aaditya, Mohnish
At the Parade:
Various things were suggested last time, and there was further discussion
about them.
Flag: Two large 10m flags this time, instead of one -- each costs Rs. 800 --
plus 20 smaller flags, about 1m wide. Mohnish to arrange for all flags.
Masks, Hand flags, Badges: Mohnish to organise and email about costs. More
feathered masks this time, since the others were a little small for some
people.
Stickers: decided to do away with them this time, in favour of badges.
Shadi ka band: Aarti will find out how much it will cost and email the info.
Tshirts: Aarti suggested letting people pre-order shirts online and manage
the costs that way. She and Mohnish will get different quotes for the price
of printed shirts and email in.
Float: Opinion was divided about the floats.
Option 1: A large float, big enough for people to stand, dance on, make
announcements from, etc pulled by an auto or motor driven. Some people felt
that it would be exclusionary and make it all about who got to stand on the
float etc.
Option 2: Some sort of banner or archway mounted on a thela or auto, that
becomes a part of the parade but does not have people on it.
Option 3: No float.
Aarti will find out about the police permission needed for both these types
of floats.
Amit will get the details about how to organise it and what the likely costs
are.
Nukkad Natak: will be held at Jantar Mantar at the end of the parade.
Dhols: Someone please figure out the arrangments for this.
Stage, Mics etc at Jantar Mantar: Ditto
Whistles: Ditto.
Balloons: Ditto.
Confetti: Ditto.
Water: Ditto
Suggestions were made to distribute condoms and flyers about queer issues
(eg: section 377), as is common at Pride events in the west. Various NGOs
might be willing to do this, while the government might be willing to help
with the condoms. It was pointed out that distributing condoms is quite
gendered and also revives the association of homosexuality with HIV/AIDS and
disease. FInally it was decided that since Delhi Queer Pride isn't
associated with any organisation, individual people are free to hand out
items, but neither th
