I am relieved... It’s the day we have waited for

I feel a sense of relief. I started this work in 1992 and have been working towards LGBTQ rights for 26 years now, especially in the area of healthcare and HIV awareness within the community. After such a long journey, it was a sense of immense relief that I felt when I heard the judgement. In fact, I had to control my emotions – it was so big for us, because when we started, there was no platform for LGBTQ rights. The younger generation is aggressive and opinionated but for the older activists, it has been a long fight and an emotional journey, an exhausting one at that too.  Thanks to my family and friends who accepted me, I lead a blessed life as an openly gay man. Section 377 affected everybody, because it spoke about sexual activity. It has been used to threaten, exhort money, blackmail and badly stigmatise people. It was used to force people to live in fear – live a lie as a straight person, as the parents and society expected. When it was scrapped, I went through a roller-coaster of emotions. It is the day we have waited for. We have the legal support to fight against discrimination and malpractices against the community. This is just the beginning and we have a long way to go.

— LGBTQ activist, founder of NGO Sahodaran