Four cheers for pride of queers

Four members of a Delhi-based LGBT group to run in Mumbai Marathon tomorrow, and raise awareness about their community

Four cheers for pride of queers

Four members of a Delhi-based LGBT group to run in Mumbai Marathon tomorrow, and raise awareness about their community

This Sunday, as the city sprints into action with 'The Greatest Race on Earth', four participants will be seen mingling with a crowd of thousands. They will sport t-shirts with little rainbow flags and 'the delhifrontrunners' printed.

The rainbow symbolises LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) pride, and the members belong to Delhi FrontRunners and Walkers (DFR), a group for queers and their supporters.

Former BMC commissioner Swadhin Kshatriya looks on at a sweeper while on his morning jog
at Marine Drive yesterday

The Mumbai Marathon has always been a platform to make political statements. And in the eighth edition of the race, the queer community will send a message of solidarity.

"For the first time ever, four runners from the LGBT community are going to run in the Mumbai Marathon, wearing, "the delhifrontrunners" t-shirts which has a rainbow logo on it," said Nuriya Querol from Delhi who is in the city for the marathon.

"Three of us are from Delhi while one from Mumbai. Two of us are doing the half-marathon (21 km), and the other two are doing the full."

DFR is a group of members with an alternative lifestyle, and it promotes outdoor activities. Straight people, who want to show their support for queer friends or family members, are also part of it. It organizes walks, jogs and other events in Delhi parks.

Asked if they want to send out a message proud to be queer and out of the closet Nuriya said, "Of course, we are proud to be queer, but not all of us are out. Some runners are in the closet. Yes, unwittingly maybe, we would be raising awareness about DFR and the queer community on the whole as we run."

The quartet has been running the Delhi half-marathon as a queer group for three years now.
"This time, we thought of coming down to Mumbai. It is a good time to be in the city, considering that Mumbai's gay parade also takes place this month," Nuriya said.

The Gay parade is on the next weekend.

Nuriya and her group members seem to be at ease with these public events. "When we run the half-marathon in New Delhi there is support and cheering from the spectators, no adverse comments. We expect the same here. In fact, anybody, gay or straight, can join us during the run," Nuriya said.

The Greatest Race
The Mumbai Marathon is part of 'The Greatest Race on Earth', an event sponsored by Standard Chartered Bank. The other three legs of this four-marathon race are the Singapore Marathon, the Nairobi Marathon and the Hong Kong Marathon. The race became an IAAF Gold Label Road Race in 2010, confirming its status as one of the more prestigious competitions in the road-racing calendar. Mumbai Marathon began in 2004.