RESEARCH REPORT

LGBT RIGHTS IN INDIA

On the Sixth of September, the Indian Supreme Court abolished Section 377 of the Indian Penal
Code- a section which criminalized any sexual activity that was considered "against the order of
nature." Although a certain taboo still remains around this subject, the abolishment of Section 377
marked a huge step forward for the LGBTQ community in India and lifted some of the stigma
attached to the LGBTQ community because of all the attention this topic received from the
mainstream media. 



In spite of India's antiquated laws regarding homosexuality, it has been comparatively progressive
when it comes to gender, identifying the existence of a third gender. India has a large community
of intersex and transgender people, who make up the group of people known as the "hijras."
However, "hijras" also face discrimination from society and are often denied jobs, forcing them to
beg.



While conducting our research we found that most people in Mumbai are open minded and have
rather progressive views regarding this subject, although some people still had their reservations
with respect to marriage and adoption. 




On the whole, the future of the LGBTQ community in India looks bright, with people becoming
more accepting to people from the LGBTQ community and the landmark ruling of the Indian
Supreme Court.

LGBT, LGBTQ+, rainbow community, queer pride parades — even a decade and a half back these
were terms that were rarely ever discussed or deliberated upon publicly in the Indian context.
Today these may have found greater acceptance in drawing room conversations of the urban
elite, and we have more media attention on issues concerning the rights of the LGBT community.
But little has changed in terms of social attitude and acceptance in immediate circles of youth
who ‘come out’.

One of our friend was bullied by his school friends and not being accepted by the society just
because he was a gay. That boy started thinking and believing its wrong to be a gay, its wrong to
love someone (though love is blind), its wrong to express yourself and he thought he had all the
possible reasons to die but thankfully we could connect to him and we just said that there might
be many reasons to die but there’s one good reason to live and that’s “you have accepted
yourself, you don’t need a character and acceptance certificate from the society.” We tried

preaching out the society, carrying out awareness camps and we also interviewed some people

about their perspectives regarding the same.

Recently our team interviewed a group of people and their response to this new law regarding
LGBT was positive. They had been asked that if someone from your family turns out to be a gay
what would have been your reaction towards them, and mostly all of them answered that ," It is
absolutely okay and there's nothing wrong in being a gay." Followingly, they were even asked
about their perspective with regards to the new law and they responded by saying,"It is a good
step taken by the Supreme Court, and yes people have got rights to be what they chooses to be
and this law was very necessary in India." And lastly, we asked them that should Gay Marriage be
legal India and all of the people answered,"Of course."