Kolkata Rainbow Pride Festival

Kolkata Rainbow Pride Festival (KRPF) is a Kolkata based open collective of individuals, networks and organizations that supports LGBT rights. It was formed on 1 May 2011 to take the initiative of organising Kolkata Rainbow Pride Walk and runs a number of events such as art exhibits, film screenings, panel discussions, cultural events, community hang outs etc.

The Kolkata Rainbow Pride Walk has become the longest-running event of its kind in South Asia.^[1] When KRPF started its journey, the Kolkata Rainbow Pride Walk (KRPW) received a footfall of 500 people and that reached the number of 1500 in the next year, i.e., 2012.^[2]

In 2012, KRPF organised an exhibition of paintings, photographs of various artists and posters, pamphlets of several NGOs working on gender and sexuality rights. Fifteen artists from India and abroad, and NGOs from different parts of India took part in this six-day exhibition titled ‘Broadening the Canvas - Celebrating Blemishes’ at the Bengal Art Gallery, ICCR, Ho Chi Minh Sarani.^[3]

It organises panel discussions on different social issues which are known as KRPF adda.^[4]

Each year Kolkata Rainbow Pride Walk takes up an alarming social cause as its agenda. In 2013, the participants of KRPW walked against all kind of Sexual Violence prevailing in the society.^[5][6][7]

In 2014, the participants of KRPW walked in support of the rights to gender expression and the rights for individual sexual freedom. It received a participation of more than a thousand supporters, despite a heavy downpour.^[8][9][10]

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