Over 1,000 LGBTQ members hold pride parade in New Delhi

More than 1,000 members of the LGBTQ community and their supporters have marched through New Delhi to celebrate sexual diversity, which they say is progressing but still has a long way to go to become a more accepting place for them.

Carrying rainbow flags, balloons and placards and dancing to the beat of drums, the LGBT supporters demanded self-identification in any gender for legal recognition rather than first registering as a transgender and then providing proof of surgery to authorities, as suggested by a government bill.

They say the bill, yet to be approved by the Parliament, contradicts a landmark judgment by Supreme Court last year striking down a colonial-era law that made gay sex punishable by up to 10 years in prison.