Richa Chadha celebrates Pride Month with stories of kindness among LGBTQIA+ community

By ANI

MUMBAI: Every year, the whole world celebrates the month of June as LGBTQ+ Pride Month which is solely dedicated to the community and is used to create awareness about the stigma about the non-binary gender spectrum.

Joining the pride celebrations this year is Bollywood actor Richa Chadha via her new social media initiative, The Kindry – which amplifies individual stories of hope and selflessness in these tough times.

Pride month is all about teaching acceptance, dignity, equality, educating pride history, and most importantly, love.

Richa through ‘The Kindry’ aims to celebrate people who have proved to be real heroes during the pandemic. Through her initiative, the actor is doing a series where she features stories of people who are helping the ones affected by the pandemic.

The page has featured stories like that of Kushal Roy – a young psychotherapist based out of Kolkata, who runs a mental health and grief counselling helpline free of cost. Another feature celebrates a group of youngsters in Kashmir – Uzair, Junaid and Khushi Mir, who are helping feed the trans community in Kashmir.

A third story features the journey of Dr Aqsa Shaikh, the first trans-woman to head a vaccination centre in India, who is an inspiration to thousands as a medical professional, a philanthropist, and an artist.

The Instagram handle will be regularly doing live sessions this month with these everyday heroes, who inspire many simply by being themselves. Even, several budding musicians will be dedicating songs to the community through these interactions.

Speaking about the initiative, Richa said, “LGBTQ+ Pride month in India this year has gone virtual because of the global pandemic. On The Kindry, we’re very happy to celebrate the same by covering stories of heroes among the community who are helping one another out during these apocalyptic times. Their stories are not only moving but also filled with love and empathy.”

She added, “Last week, a queer college student from Delhi shared his coming-out story. My co-founder Krishan Jagota and I received several DMs from our followers talking about how they also felt braver to come out after watching our live session. Kindness is the need of the hour and during this time. We’re all in need of love and hope as will still struggling to cope with losses due to the pandemic. With the help of artists, we hope to bring some virtual cheer to the lives of our everyday heroes as well.”

June marks a time when millions of people come together to support the LGBTQ community. It was first celebrated in the US in 2000 when then US President Bill Clinton issued a presidential proclamation designating the month. To celebrate it, people come out on the streets for pride parades, marches, rallies.

Meanwhile, on the work front, Richa was last seen in the movie ‘Madam Chief Minister’, and had also announced her production venture ‘Girls Will Be Girls’, along with her boyfriend and actor Ali Fazal.

Next, she will be starring in Tigmanshu Dhulia’s upcoming series, ‘Six Suspects’ opposite ‘Scam 1992’ fame actor Pratik Gandhi.