Much to celebrate five years after decriminalisation
But violence and persecution persist
Next frontier: the right to same-sex marriage
By Vidhi Doshi
MUMBAI, Sept 20 (Openly) – Hemant Kumar dreams of living a simple life – with a loving husband, doting daughter and all the respectability that comes from being an old-fashioned family man in small-town India.
Five years ago, Kumar thought that was just a pipe dream.
But a historic 2018 ruling by the country’s Supreme Court to decriminalise homosexuality opened the door to love for millions of LGBTQ+ Indians like Kumar who live in small cities and towns around the country.
Now the 21-year-old student dares to dream of finding love, living openly with another man, and raising a child together – all free from fear.
“From my childhood, in my family and in my society, everyone has a family. So inside myself there is a father who wants a kid,” said Kumar, who lives in Jamshedpur, a steel manufacturing town in eastern India.
India decriminalised same-sex sexual relations when it scrapped a colonial-era ban on gay sex, making life easier and less dangerous for many LGBTQ+ Indians in mid-sized towns and cities.
But while the law is now on side, homosexuality remains a taboo topic for many in this socially conservative country of 1.4 billion, and discrimination persists in rural life.
Moves at the national level may have started conversations about gay topics for the first time in smaller towns, but the pace of change remains slow, said Koyel Ghosh, managing trustee of
Sappho for Equality, an organisation working for the rights of lesbians, bisexual women and trans men.
Whatever progress may have been won in the courts or enjoyed in big cities, rural LGBTQ+ life remains unchanged for many, she said.
“People are (still being) forced to be married off without their consent, they are being made to go through conversion therapy,” said Ghosh.
“When it comes to civil rights, when it comes to basic rights, I don’t think there is much that there’s being done.”
The new openness has itself led to more problems, particularly for young people, Ghosh said.
“Since decriminalisation … younger people who are 18, 19 years of age have started coming out of the closet which is leading to a lot of family violence.”
DATING
The country’s landmark court judgment in 2018 liberated many big-city Indians and opened the door to new legal freedoms.
Many hope this will one day trickle down to a new life for LGBTQ+ Indians of all backgrounds in all corners of the country.
Before the ruling, Kumar said any attempts to date through apps or come out to friends would have been unthinkable.
His small town of Seraikela has a population of about 15,000 – far removed from big liberal urban enclaves such as Mumbai – and daily life continues to run on mostly traditional lines.
As a teenager, Kumar had never even heard the word “gay” spoken out loud. But since the landmark ruling, he has come out to close friends and found a community of people just like him.
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