[1] Kolkata Rainbow Pride Walk is held with the intention of making a political statement for Equality, Tolerance, Love and Solidarity.
[1][3][5][6] The participants were wearing specially designed, bright yellow T-shirts with graphics of footsteps and a caption reading "Walk on the Rainbow".
[1][3] Some well-known people who participated in The Friendship Walk included Ashok Row Kavi, Nitin Karani, Pawan Dhall, Owais Khan and Rafique-Ul-Haque-Dowjah-Ranjan.
[3] The two teams went to various NGOs, including WB SACS, Human Rights Organisation and other NGOs working for prevention of AIDS and also met a few famous personalities like Maitree Chatterjee, who has been one of the strongest voices behind women movement in Kolkata and put forward their agenda and demands.
[3] The music video "Pokkhiraaj" (Pegasus), by the Bengali rock band Cactus was also released in the Rainbow week.
[13] The exhibition was titled 'Broadening the Canvas ~ Celebrating Blemishes' and was hosted at ICCR, Ho Chi Minh Sarani, near to US Consulate in Kolkata.
[14] The exhibition was curated by a Delhi-based art historian and joint secretary of Performers Independent, Rahul Bhattacharya.
[13] The exhibition showcased the works of Balbir Krishan, Anuradha Upadhaya, Deepak Tandon, Jayna Mistry, Jose Abad, Mandakini Devi, Manmeet Devgun, Moumita Shaw, Paribartan Mohanty, Prakash Kishore, Rudra Kishore Mandal, Suchismita Ukil, Syed Taufik Riaz, Tapati Choudhury and Vidisha Saini.
[2][5] I am Omar, a short film on a same-sex relationship by Onir, was also screened at the Lincoln room as a part of the workshop where the filmmaker himself was present to support the pride walk.
[23][24] However, the route was changed in lieu of President Pranab Mukherjee's visit to the city on the same date as the pride march.
The route was changed after a meeting held between senior officers of Lalbazar – Kolkata Police Headquarters and the organisers of the pride walk.
An interactive session was also organised on 2 December 2016, where a film was screened and thoughts and queer writings were shared amongst the participants.
[27] The participants and organizers of the Kolkata Rainbow Pride Walk 2016 demanded the revocation of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code to exclude consensual same-sex activity from its purview.
[34] The bill does not provide for the enforcement of the right to ‘self-perceived’ gender identity for a person recognized as a ‘transgender’.
Hundreds of people supporting the LGBTQ community marched down the streets carrying rainbow flags highlighting their demands by shouting slogans.
The March’s primary objectives were the withdrawal of the bill, implementation of the NALSA judgement and challenging the controversial nature of the Section 377 of IPC.
The poster making workshop cum volunteers' meeting for Kolkata Rainbow Pride Walk 2017 was held on 3 December 2017.
[38] This year's Pride Parade was noteworthy since this was the first one since a part of Section 377 was read down by the Supreme Court in Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India on 6 September 2018.
[38] This 17th Pride Walk, one of the oldest in India, saw a crowd of more than thousand people who witnessed this monumental event.
Although the Pride Parade happily celebrated the reading down of Section 377, it simultaneously also protested against the Transgender Persons Bill[40][1], 2016 introduced by the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India, subsequently passed by the Lok Sabha.