Washington, Jun 11 (PTI): Indian-Americans, who on Saturday participated in the historic LGBTQ Pride rally at the White House, urged community members to love and support their child irrespective of their sexual orientation.

President Joe Biden welcomed hundreds to the White House on Saturday for a delayed Pride Month celebration aimed at showing LGBTQ+ people that his administration has their back at a time when advocates are warning of a spike in discriminatory legislation, particularly aimed at the transgender community, sweeping through statehouses.

The event, which the administration described as the largest Pride event hosted at the White House, was initially scheduled for Thursday, but was postponed because of poor air quality from hazardous air flowing in from Canadian wildfires.

“I'm the parent of a trans child myself. I'm here celebrating pride at the White House, and I'm gonna let all the Desi families around the globe know that to love your child and to support your child is exactly what we are all meant to do. I hope that all of you can find the support you need to do that,” Aruna Rao, executive director of Desi Rainbow told PTI on the South Lawns of the White House.

Only a handful of Indian-Americans participated in the rally.

“One of the things we should understand is a lot of these folks in our community cannot be out. They have to remain in the closet, due to social pressures, cultural pressures, economic pressures. The reason there's a handful of that, not because there are only a handful that exist, it's because they cannot be in this space,” she said.

“One of the biggest challenges that our community's facing because what happens with people who are not supported is essentially there are a huge number of risks that we subject to, including mental health risks. LGBTQ kids have one of the highest rates of suicide across the world, highest rates of homelessness here in South Asia, everywhere. These are the issues that are very urgent and doing this work and supporting LGBTQ folks and their families can save lives,” Rao said.

President Biden, she said, has been one of the most supportive American Presidents in terms of LGBTQ rights, and advancing LGBTQ equality.

“He's the first president in my lifetime that I have seen otter the words transgender Americans at his inauguration. It absolutely made me so happy. He recognizes not just gay, lesbian, bisexual folks, he recognises the transgender community. That is really important to me, because that is the most marginalized within the LGBTQ group,” she said.

“He has been instrumental in codifying the respect for Marriage Act back in December. That essentially legislatively makes sure that gay marriage, LGBTQ marriage, is not going to be at risk again due to Supreme Court actions. We are really hoping that he and the Senate and the Congress can come together to pass the Equality Act, which will actually bring true equality to LGBTQ folks in this country,” Rao said.

Chennai-born Lesley Kingston said he support, South Asians, specifically Indians, who are living here and abroad in securing their rights for equality.

Responding to a question, Kingston, who is an artist by profession, said the LGBTQ community is facing discrimination in India.

“The biggest challenges that we have is really colonization. Because a lot of our cultural beliefs comes from the oppression that colonization has brought us. We have not gone past that. We have used the laws that the, the British brought to our country and are using it to oppress our people, which is really unfortunate,” he said.

“It’s 2023, and we all, including Americans need to get past it and realize that we share the same blood. We're made up of the same things. We're all human beings and we're all deserving of equality. So I think the biggest challenge that we have is for us to recognize that we are colonized people and we have colonized minds, and we need to get past that,” Kingston said. PTI LKJ RUP RUP

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