LGBTQIA+ community protests against Trans amendment Act at Chennai Pride

at 18^he As part of Chennai’s annual Self-Respect Pride parade, some parents whose children are part of the LGBTQIA+ community came together to celebrate the Pride parade at the Rajarathinam Stadium on Sunday. It was hosted by many organizations and volunteers who came together under the umbrella of the Tamil Nadu Rainbow Coalition.

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This time there were more banners expressing the community’s disappointment with the Union Government’s Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, 2026 and many even wore customized outfits expressing the same, apart from chanting slogans on inclusivity and rights.

“We asked parents who accept their children as part of society to start the march because it accepts them and encourages other parents to do the same,” said Sahodaran general manager Jaya. Apart from the Amendment Bill, he said the State government should also look into pending demands such as horizontal reservation, employment opportunities in Tamil Nadu, changing the Tamil name of the transgender welfare board. Thirunar Nala Variyamgender-neutral toilets, surrogacy rights, etc. “There should also be more sensitization programs that should be carried out in schools by the state government,” Ms. Jaya added.

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Holding a banner that read ‘Proud Parent Ally’, Prathiba and Varadarajan said many parents have a binary idea about the world and expect their children to conform to these ideas. “This is where the issue of acceptance comes from, but the only thing society is looking for is acceptance,” they said.

Members of the community with many different identities carried certain pride flags. 18-year-old couple Cherishma and Tejaswini, who attended the Pride Parade for the first time, said that they were looking forward to this day with great excitement. “We raised slogans against homophobia and for inclusivity. We thought many older people would just come, but many people our age make us happy,” said Ms. Cherishma.

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Apart from thousands of people participating in the march from Chennai, several people from other parts of the world also participated in the march. While there were colorful headdresses, umbrellas, and flags that everyone could buy for the walk at the entrance of the stadium, there were also nearly 20 sales points where volunteers distributed refreshments.

Trans woman Rachel said Pride was primarily about her rights. Referring to the Amendment Bill, he added that it was only going backwards. A young trans man, who did not want to be named, said that the Amendment Act had completely erased trans men and that many people in society this year were deeply saddened by this.

The Pride March concluded with a ‘Naangal’ programme, where singers, dancers, poets from the community and allies performed performances ranging from folk dances to spoken word poetry. Activists also spoke at the meeting.