It would be great if a Bollywood celebrity joined the Hindustani people participating in this year’s Amsterdam Gay Pride event. At least, that’s the wish of Shanta Bhikharie, who co-runs the Dutch Hindustani organisation SaVo (from Samen Vooruit or Forward Together). This year, for the first time, Hindustani gay men and women and their heterosexual friends will hit the water as part of the popular Canal Parade.

So far, there are no Bollywood stars on the passenger list. But Shanta Bhikharie is happy that - for the first time ever - there will be a boat especially for Hindustani gays and lesbians, bisexuals, transgenders and their relatives, friends and supporters at Amsterdam’s second largest public ‘party’ of the year. With just days left before Saturday’s Canal Parade, the boat is as good as full.

Ms Bhikharie says the idea for boat came about because homosexuality is still very much taboo within the Hindustani community in the Netherlands. Originally from Suriname (see below), she has lived in the Netherlands for more than 30 years. Through her work for SaVo and in Amsterdam’s social care sector, she has heard some very depressing stories about discrimination against gay people in the Hindustani community. One of them concerns a young man whose mother’s beat, burned and verbally abused him after he came out.

Although there are examples of gay people who’ve been supported by their families, Ms Bhikharie says the reactions tend to be negative, even angry. People often become depressed or suicidal, Bhikharie says, as a result of the Hindustani community’s widespread negative attitudes towards homosexuality.

Breaking taboos
Such attitudes, along with domestic violence, led Shanta Bhikharie and her colleagues to set up SaVo in 2009. The organisation aims to break open taboos within the Hindustani community, opening the topics up for conversation and, perhaps, resolution. SaVo provides information, tries to initiate discussion, and organises workshops and courses. While preparing for a workshop on homosexuality, a SaVo staff member suggested a Hindustani boat might join in this year’s pride parade. That was last December and Shanta Bhikharie’s been planning ever since.

Ms Bhikharie hopes the boat will help break the taboo about homosexuality and sexual diversity in general. Despite the prejudice that still exists within the community, there are enough openly gay and lesbian Hindustanis to fill the boat. They’ve been working on costumes, rehearsing Bollywood-themed dance moves, and paid 65 Euros  for the trip. Shee says she hopes the boat will be all “glitter and glamour” even though its actual theme - Hindustani acceptance - sounds slightly more formal.

Can't join in
Although gay Hindustanis seem to be queuing up to get on board, Ms Bhikharie would have liked to see more prominent members of the Hindustani community joining the 'crew'  to show their support. The response from the wider community has been neutral or positive - at least, SaVo (Dutch language website) has received no really negative comments - and she says a number of celebrities have expressed their support, but “a lot of them are on holiday, or say they think it’s a great idea but that they can’t join in”.

Does she really believe that? “I’m not in a position to say either way. I have no reason not to believe them, but I think it’s still difficult for some people to make a public display of their support.”

Maybe that will be different if another Hindustani boat joins the flotilla for the Amsterdam Gay Pride Canal Parade of 2012, and maybe someone from Bollywood will then want to fly over to Amsterdam to join the crew too.

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Surinamese roots
The Hindustani community in the Netherlands is small, but not tiny. It numbers at least 120,000 people, some of whom have come from South Asia. Most, however, have their roots in the former Dutch colony of Suriname in South America. Many Surinamese came to the Netherlands when their country gained independence in 1975.

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* lead photo by NickJohnson/flickr.com taken at Bangalore Gay Pride in India  - this and all further use subject to this CC Licence.