How the movement grew over the years

In the heart of the glorious cacophony of Hazratganj market stands a multilevel parking lot, its modern facade jutting out incongruously against the crumbling edifice of centuries-old landmarks. Yet, it was not always here.

- Dhamini Ratnam and Dhrubo Jyoti

In its place once stood an imposing police station, one that turned into a battleground for India’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (LGBTQ+) movement one sultry afternoon in July 2001. That day, the local police picked up activist Arif Jafar and his co-workers from a non-governmental organisation that worked among vulnerable queer populations, ransacking their office, seizing HIV/AIDS literature, dildos, condom boxes, video cassettes, and thrashing the men in public before throwing them in jail.

For the next 47 days, Jafar and his fellow activists were beaten in jail by other inmates and the police, their revulsion at encountering a gay man writ large on their faces as the local media reported wildly untrue stories of “gay sex rackets” and “gangs”. By the time they limped out of jail, their predicament had brought home to India’s queer movement the horrors of their criminalised existence and the stigma attached to them.

Jafar, one of the petitioners in the landmark 2018 Supreme Court judgment that decriminalised homosexuality, continues to carry with him memories of the gruelling struggle it took to dispel the taint and convince the world that queer people deserved a life of dignity and respect.

“In the 90s, no one even wanted to talk to us. If we mentioned being gay, we’d be slapped or abused. Today, even if they don’t agree with us, they will let us speak our truth,” he said.

On Tuesday, as India’s queer movement reeled from the setback of the Supreme Court refusing to accord recognition to same-sex couples, many activists such as Jafar pointed to the extraordinary journey of LGBTQ+ rights in a country where being queer could be punished with life imprisonment just five years ago. “The change was made possible with painstaking advocacy on the ground. It can be made possible again,” he said.

Battling discrimination