Building a community, one queer karaoke at a time

Those scars from not fitting into the box remain no matter how accepting our families turn out to be. A community of sorts can be liberating

- SANDIP ROY

Several years ago, I was at a literature festival in Mumbai discussing the gay characters in my novel. At one point, the moderator, who happened to be an old friend and a gay activist, said half-jokingly: "That storyline is moving but so sad. When will we have the happy gay story?" I responded, also half-jokingly: "What to do? Sad stories are more literary, I guess."

At the time, homosexuality had not been decriminalised by the Supreme Court. That happened in September 2018. This week marks the fifth anniversary of that decision. On that day five years ago, I got together with friends, some queer, some allies, for an impromptu pizza party at home. Almost every year, my social media feed brings up that selfie of all of us gathered around the living room, some of us lounging on the couch, some sprawled on the floor, arms draped around each other, craning our necks to fit into the frame, flashing victory signs, grinning at the camera. The lighting is bad, the picture a bit shaky, but the joy is palpable. For that night at least, it was a "happy gay story".

Movements tend to be serious business, and rightly so. They are about righting injustice, demanding equality, filing appeals in court, chanting slogans on the street. The judgements reflected that anguish and urgency as well. "Victorian morality must give way to constitutional morality," insisted Justice Rohinton Nariman. Justice Indu Malhotra felt history owed members of the LGBTQ+ community an apology for the "delay in providing redressal for the ignominy and ostracism that they have suffered through the centuries", compelling them to live lives "full of fear of  reprisal and persecution". The then Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra, hoped that LGBTQ+ Indians would have "equal opportunity to advance and develop their human potential and social, economic and legal interests".