Some 200 students took the streets of Pondicherry in southeastern India for the city’s first pride parade.

LGBTI advocates and allies marched through Pondicherry University holding banners and waving flags to celebrate India’s recent decriminalization of gay sex.

On 6 September, India’s Supreme Court ruled parts of Section 377 of the Penal Code were unconstitutional. Judges dismantled the law and enshrined LGBTI equality.

The march ended with poetry readings and dance performances.

It was organized by a student group, Spectra. Organizers complained of ‘bizarre conditions’ demanded by the university administration.

The university made organizers commit to forbidding non-students taking part and required them to video record the event.

What’s more, a keynote speaker transgender activist was not allowed to attend, despite having worked with the university in the past.

‘Despite these struggles, the Pride was successful in bringing out problems faced by students marginalized in a university structured along patriarchal lines’, organizers said in a statement.

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