I spent much of yesterday grinning hard enough to make my face sore, after waking up to the news that the Delhi High Court had struck down the colonial-era provisions of Section 377 criminalizing gay sex between consenting adults, and watching the wave of delight and pride ripple across the internets as one time zone after another logged on. In recent years I’ve met several activists from India who were involved in the fight to end 377–some of whose names and faces are popping up in the coverage right now–and have been educated and inspired by their tireless work, which has been key to shaping my own politics and perspectives within queer rights activism. But mostly, right now, I’m just joyful to be witnessing the joy of dear friends for whom this ruling (no matter how provisional) is an immense victory: an announcement that they are no longer criminals in the eyes of their government because of whom and how they love. Many of them have been fighting this battle as long as I’ve known them, supporting lawsuits and open letters, holding pride marches and poetry readings, telling the truth and writing it down, and above all just being out to their families and communities and fellow citizens. All my love to you guys today; I’m so proud, and so happy for you.
Remember when we looked at the photos of people lining up outside the San Francisco City Hall to get married in defiance of the law in 2004, and cried? That’s what watching this feels like, now. And backlash and setbacks and challenges are once again in the making, no doubt, but those couples on the steps marked a turning-point in a battle we’re going to win, and so did the people who gathered yesterday outside the courthouse and at Jantar Mantar to celebrate.
(also, can I just have a moment of alma mater provincialism and SHOUT OUT 1) to Justice Edwin Cameron, such a source of inspiration during our Oxford years, who provided a lot of support to anti-377 activists & is quoted in the court’s decision, and 2) to the signatories of this open letter in particular, many of whom I am blessed to call friends. What a passport-kissing moment, çocuklarım!)
Updated to add some of the reactions:
- thariel on the people and spaces who made it possible to imagine the world differently
- tarunabh on the legalities
- szerelem with a sweetly apt photograph (chhap tilak sab cheeni re moh se naina milayke!) from Nizamuddin
