Programs & Events
Consulate General Marks LGBT Pride Month
June 17: “Equal Rights for All,” without regard to sexual orientation or gender identity, is the theme of the Consulate General’s celebration of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Pride Month. On June 16, Consul General Andrew T. Simkin inaugurated a poster exhibit created by Consulate employees on the history of the gay and lesbian struggle for equal rights in the United States, with photos of and quotes from a few of the most famous and accomplished LGBT Americans. The exhibit can be viewed in the American Library. Also on June 16, South India-based NGO leaders, human rights lawyers and journalists interacted with Mr. Matthew Coles, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Director of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender & AIDS Project, via digital video conference between Chennai and New York. Mr. Coles, for 90 minutes, answered questions based on his 30 plus years of experience in the legal and political debates over the rights of LGBT people in the United States. During the month of June, the American Library has a book display of works of literature by some outstanding writers who are gay or lesbian - like Truman Capote, Gertrude Stein, Susan Sontag, Tennessee Williams and Alice Walker – along with some excellent nonfiction, such as Stonewall by Martin Duberman (about the 1969 riots in New York City that mark the beginning of the modern gay rights movement), Sons of Harvard by Toby Marotta (about lives of both privilege and isolation), and And the Band Played On by Randy Shilts (about the AIDS epidemic in the United States).
The American Library is open to the public Monday through Saturday, from 9:30 am to 5:00 pm.
Click here for the poster exhibit
Presidential Proclamation on LGBT
Clinton on LGBT