It has been one whole day, but across India, hearts are still full and toes tingly. Considering how long and tumultuous this fight has been this news will take a little bit of time to fully sink in. What makes decriminalisation of homosexuality all the more special is the number of people who have spent years, for some majority of their lives, relentlessly fighting for equality, for justice, for love. The acceptance, the chance to live without fear and just to be able to experience the freedom that a lot haven’t experienced before is only thanks to the brave and determined souls who fought day and night.
Today we tip our hats to those individuals and organisations who took being strong-willed and determined to the next level. People who made sure that their voices were heard, who never gave in and were united by a belief that was simple but oh-so-powerful — love is love.
We also cannot forget that none of this would have been possible without the constant support, strength and courage of India’s queer community as well as all the allies in society.
I. The Petitioners
A Bharatnatyam dancer, a journalist, a restauranteur, a hotelier, an executive director and a businesswoman. Six very different individuals from diverse walks of life joined hands based on one common thread that bound all of them to one another — a chance to unabashedly be who they are. Navtej Singh Johar, Sunil Mehra, Ritu Dalmia, Aman Nath, Keshav Suri and Ayesha Kapur were forces behind the petition that led the Supreme Court to reconsider and reconvene on the validity of 377. “The judgment has restored hope in the system. This is the first step in a fight against homophobia. We are happy, relieved and this is a very emotional moment for us. It is a great day for the Constitution. This is more than decriminalisation. This is about human rights,” said Dalmia reacting to the Supreme Court’s Judgement. An instrumental petition, an iconic judgement and a relentless group of individuals whose contribution to the LGBTQ community in India has been etched in history.
II. The Bench
In a society wherein heteronormativity is the accepted standard, passing such an iconic verdict at the risk of being at the other end of a probable sea of hate is not for the faint-hearted. The bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and comprised of Justices R F Nariman, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra warmed everyone’s hearts with not just the result of the judgement, but by the statements they made that will remain with us for a long time to come. An apology, some advice to embrace individuality, doing away with associating homosexuality to mental health and being reminded to always look for the rainbow, this bench of judges deserve nothing less than bucketloads of respect.
III. Anjali Gopalan
Gopalan, 61, is the founder of The Naz Foundation Trust that has been at the forefront of this fight and responsible for the petition against Section 377 in 2001. The organisation that does exemplary work towards raising awareness about HIV/AIDS and sexual health was instrumental in generating discourse pertaining to Section 377 across the country. Their petition ultimately resulted in decriminalising homosexuality in 2009, which were later reversed by the Supreme Court in 2013. Very effectively bringing about change with respect to awareness about HIV/AIDS, Gopalan has spearheaded numerous projects that have been integral to the upliftment of the LGBTQ community in India.
IV. Menaka Guruswamy
“With the Constitution in our hearts, we go to our Court, to seek to remove a colonial stain on our collective national conscience. Section 377 your time has come,” tweeted Guruswamy on July 8, 2018. And well, wasn’t she right. A Supreme Court Advocate, Guruswamy represented a group of IIT students who file a petition challenging Section 377 earlier this year and represented the six petitioners mentioned earlier. Beautifully expressing her views on the Supreme Court’s verdict, Guruswamy wrote in an article for the Hindustan Times “What does this freedom feel like in India today? It is the incoming monsoon, the smell of wet soil; it is the colourful kurtas and blue jeans of our young scientist clients amid the sea of black and white lawyers’ gowns. It is the twinkle in their eyes as they bob up and down in expectation of their lives to come. It is what India feels like today. It is what it felt like many monsoons ago in 1947 when it made its tryst with destiny.”
V. AIDS Bhedbhav Virodhi Andolan (ABVA)
The first organization to ever file a petition against Section 377, ABVA challenges the bill in 1991. “It was an eclectic group which included a leprosy patient, a nun, a closeted gay person, social workers, doctors, lawyers, non-formal education workers, representative of women’s groups etc. They came from diverse socio-economic backgrounds and from different communities and varied age group. In 1988-89 the youngest member of the group was about 24 years and oldest was about 55 years. Some lived in slums and resettlement colonies; at least one of them was a pavement dweller, and some in posh South Delhi colonies. But what held them together was their conviction and courage to wipe out all forms of discrimination around AIDS,” reads a blog post by ABVA describing the initial set of individuals who came together to form the organisation. The first organisation to raise its voice against Section 377, they without a doubt have had a major contribution towards the Supreme Court’s judgement.
VI. Akkai Padmashali
Born Jagdeesh, Akkari Padmashali is a social activist fighting for the rights of the transgender community in India. One of the strongest voices against Section 377, Padmashali too had filed a petition challenging the bill. “There have been too many cases where transgender people have been booked under 377 in Karnataka and other places, due to discrimination. This law is undermining my dignity, my privacy, my right to mobility, so why should we even have such a section in our penal code?” said Padmashali in an interview with Youth Ki Awaz. Padmashali has also founded an organisation called Ondede, which works towards building a “non-discriminatory and gender-just” society.
Feature image credits: (L) The Abhyas Trust & (R) The New York Times.
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