She told her family she did not want to marry and, when pressed for her reasons, she explained. “I realised after the third meeting with potential grooms that I couldn’t live this way,” Sumati said. Just two days after participating in the July march with her partner, she found herself in her hometown of Moradabad, a conservative community in Uttar Pradesh, being taken by her family to ‘see boys’ as they lined up candidates for an arranged marriage. “I didn’t want my family to see me on television,” said the 31-year-old software company manager.īut then the social pressures faced by many women - to marry, to be a dutiful wife, to bear children and carry on the family line - hit her with special force, given her sexual orientation, and forced her hand.
As recently as July, when smaller marches were held in several cities, she kept on her mask and avoided the cameras.
