In a previous segment of this column, we briefly spoke about the Stonewall Riots, and its impact on homosexuality. The riots paved the way to the modern celebration of sexual identities in the form of Pride celebrations. Usually focused around a Pride March, the series of events provides an opportunity for people to be open and proud about whom they are in terms of their sexual and gender identities.
Sri Lanka's premier LGBTIQ organization, EQUAL GROUND has been busy organizing their contribution to the movement, Colombo PRIDE for the past couple of months.

The series of events will kick off today with "I have a Dream," which to quote EG will be "a show with a different drag" of which they say that "the content will be a well kept Colombo secret until the last minute." It will be held at the Wendt, with tickets being available at the EG office.

The team at EG has been busy assembling pieces of creativity of people, in the form of photos and art, which will be showcased at Rainbow Visions, which will run from Monday, June 30, to Thursday July 3 at Barefoot Gallery. At the event, In the corner of my love life, a collection of short stories by Nihal Senarathna will also be launched.

Celluloid Rainbows, an LGBT themed film festival will also run from July 1–3 at Barefoot, and the whole series of events will climax at Rainbow PRIDE, Colombo's annual pride party. The wrap-up for this year's pride celebrations would be the 'Rainbow Kite Festival', where the skies of Mt. Lavinia beach would be colored up with the kites that soar, just like the pride that people carry within them.

The spirit of pride however, runs deeper than celebration. It's an attempt to respect diversity, and accept people for who they are, accepting, respecting and celebrating the diversity of people and their identities.
EQUAL GROUND can be contacted on 5679766, or on their email equalground@gmail.com. EG also maintains a blog which can be found at http://equalground.wordpress.com/.