Section 377: One Year On, The Indian LGBTQIA+ Community Is Still Fighting For Acceptance And Rights

It feels like yesterday, when the Supreme Court of Indian struck down Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), decriminalising homosexuality. The country rushed into collective euphoria after the landmark verdict was pronounced on September 6, 2018.

The verdict furnished acknowledgement to the people of the LGBTQIA+ community, but what can¡¯t be ruled out is that pride can only originate from social acceptance and respect.

Striking down Section 377 was a step towards more inclusiveness and progression, but for the LGBTQIA+ community, legal inclusion is still a dream.

Correcting the "historical wrong"

As Justice Indu Malhotra, one of the five judges who read out four concurrent verdicts on 6 September, said, society owes the LGBTQIA+ community an apology for the historical wrongs perpetrated against it.

And this historical wrong can only be corrected once people from the community are accepted as one of their own.

¡°The positive wave has a ripple effect on lives, lifting hopes and ensuring that lives that were islands of despair turn into an oasis of love.

¡°Many masks have vanished. On the flip side, there are some people who are out without planning they¡¯re coming out. This has led to their parents suddenly being faced by a ¡®truth¡¯ they were not prepared for. Also, the extortion cases have not reduced considerably. There are also many who are out to the world but not their parents, their secrets make them vulnerable to be exposed thereby making a case for extortionists,¡± said LGBTQIA+ rights activist and member of the Congress party, Harish Iyer.

Life after Section 377 has changed visibly. There¡¯s less fear in public spaces.

Some people feel that they are now better equipped to battle the daily micro-aggression they faced at schools, colleges or work. For others, this difference faded out quickly when factors such as caste, religion and class came into play, because in this country it is next to impossible to disassociate anything from age-old notions.

Moving on from the binaries in legal framework

A study by Vidhi Centre of Legal Policy has highlighted the need for victim neutrality in provisions related to sexual offences in criminal law and repeal of section 377 to prevent its misuse in cases of sexual violence involving same sex couples.

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The existing provisions of the IPC related to offences of sexual nature operate in the male-female binary and assume sexual acts in the same binary.

Since the decriminalisaton of same sex relationships, there has been a spike in instances of violence and of people wanting to come out of forced marriages, says the study.

Inclusion in workplaces

¡°The legal hurdle was holding individuals and organisations, with reading down of Section 377 more LGBT people are coming out & asking for equality and acceptance.

¡°The representation in media/television/web content is becoming better and the LGBT characters are now shown as multidimensional compared to caricatures for mockery in the past,¡± said Ramkrishna Sinha from Pride Circle, a community of people working, impacting, supporting in the space of LGBT+ inclusion at the workplace in India.

People from the LGBTQIA+ community usually find little space in companies. While a foundation has been laid with decriminalisation of homosexuality, the responsibility of inclusion of LGBTQIA+ community in work spaces now falls on businesses and corporate in India to draft inclusive policies.

¡°India saw its first LGBTQIA+ Job Fair organised by Pride Circle where 38 companies, 320 candidates participated and it let to 30 offers and counting. The law has enabled organisations to affirmatively include, to talk externally about their inclusion efforts. For many companies, which were hesitant to engage with LGBT+ inclusion because of the law, that barrier has now gone, enabling organisations to take progressive steps in this direction.

"There is a growing interest in Pink Economy and the buying potential of LGBT people, hence we are seeing targeted/inclusive advertisement, efforts to cater to the needs of this population by many brands,¡± added Ram.

Ram said that the judgement has made a big difference in the self-esteem of people. The social stigma and the criminality under law led people to forced marriages, double lives and various challenges.

¡°Post decriminalisation issues of blackmail, extortion of community members just for who they are can now be tackled better. The societal acceptance will still take a while, but it is definitely going in the right direction with representation of the community getting better, more people are coming out like India¡¯s first athlete to come out Dutee Chand¡±, he said.

Creating an environment where homosexual and queer employees feel safe and proud to work and are respected and treated with dignity must be identified as a crucial goal by all organisations.

This necessitates having in place policies and guidelines that are not just ambitious but intolerant of exploitation, discrimination, and abuse. Implementing them positively often involves an amalgamation of collective dialogue, training, and awareness.

Fighting for the rights & against stigma

Sonu and Nikesh got married last month in Kerala, making them the first married gay couple in the state. From coming out of the closet to convincing families and getting accepted in public, the couple who met on a dating app, have come a long way.

Last year, hotelier Keshav Suri married his partner of 10 years, Cyril Feuillebois, in Paris.

Suri was one of the five people who submitted a writ petition in the Supreme Court in 2016, challenging the constitutionality of Section 377 of the IPC.

However, the road to same-sex marriage is a tough one.

In August 2019, the Supreme Court dismissed a plea seeking review of its order which had rejected a petition seeking various civil rights such as same-sex marriage, adoption and surrogacy for the LGBTQIA+ community.

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The review plea had sought civil rights of the LGBTQIA+ community as part of the basic human rights and said that these rights were not addressed in the apex court's judgement on Section 377 of the IPC which had criminalised consensual gay sex.

The plea sought recognition of their rights to same-sex marriage marriages, adoption, surrogacy, IVF and directions so that the community can serve openly in the army, navy and air force.

The key to social acceptance is to respect the difference.

¡°But it¡¯s not as easy as it sounds -- it requires us to battle those internal phobias, not just about others but also about the perceived strangeness in ourselves. To ask ourselves, what does it mean for me if I accept what is outside of the norm?¡± says Debolina Dey, a 34-year-old Assistant Professor at Ramjas College, Delhi University.

Ram says education and awareness is key to make progress as a society and that there are several myths about this community and its time we bust them.

¡°Research shows that knowing just one LGBT person can dramatically change level of acceptance, exposure and engagement is key. If you do not know any LGBT people in your circle, go read coming out stories, watch a movie, find ways to engage,¡± he added.

A report by the World Bank suggests discrimination toward the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community is costing India billions of dollars.

The research says that homophobia cost India¡¯s economy between 112 billion rupees ($1.9 billion) and 1.7 trillion rupees ($30.8 billion) in 2012. To put that figure into context: India lost between 0.1 per cent to 1.7 per cent of its potential gross domestic product that year.

If safety in schools and colleges is ensured so that people from all sexual orientation a get education without discrimination, it would enable them to build their career and contribute to the economy.

It¡¯s imperative that the basic needs to of the people from the LGBTQIA+ community are implemented without delay.

Decriminalised or not, the ground reality is that the Indian society is not evolved enough to embrace homosexuals and still believe that it¡¯s a curable disease. Many queer people, while growing up and understanding their sexuality, fall into depression due to constant bullying and lack of understanding on part of people.

This isn¡¯t a fight only for acceptance of sexuality for an entirely different system of thought-- the right to live one's own life in the way one chooses. With dignity.