MORE than 2,000 LGBTQ activists and their supporters returned to the streets of New Delhi to press for equal marriage rights.

The celebration on Sunday was the first in three years because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Dancing to drum beats, they carried rainbow flags, balloons and placards as they walked to the Jantar Mantar area near India’s parliament.

“It’s good, it’s fabulous. Because we are here to celebrate ourselves, and after three years,” said participant Vishal Rai.

Their hopes have been raised by India’s Supreme Court hearing petitions on granting legal recognition to same-sex marriage.

The government is yet to legalise same-sex marriage even though the Supreme Court in 2018 struck down a colonial-era law that made gay sex punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Most Hindu nationalist leaders claim same-sex marriage is against India’s culture. 

But Noor Enayat, a volunteer, is hopeful that a change will come.

She recalled that when she came out in 2003, there was next to zero acceptance. But 20 years later things have improved, she said.

“Give it another 20 years. It will be a very different world. So, I’m not going to be hopeless about it or say it’s not happening. It’s happening,” she said.