The past decade saw major ups and downs when comes to queerness in legality: from the 2009 Delhi High Court judgment decriminalizing consenting sexual acts in private to the 2013 Supreme Court verdict that brought back Section 377, to the 2018 verdict that led to it finally being read down. In 2014 the Supreme Court presented the progressive NALSA judgement but in 2019, the much disputed Transgender Persons Bill was passed in and has become law despite being against the wishes of the community and in stark contrast to the wording of the Supreme Court judgment. Moreover, outside of these LGBTQ+ specific legislations, there exist numerous laws that operate on non-inclusive and unequal grounds for queer and trans persons living in India. 

We opened the evening with a a power-packed conversation with incredible voices from QAMRA, a queer initiative working towards archiving queer histories of India with a view to document and preserve contemporary queer history. This was followed by a presentation by Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy on their report Queering the Law: Making Indian Laws LGBTQ+ Inclusive. We closed the evening will a discussion between Dan Rebello and Zainab Patel on Trans Rights Now, the status of trans rights, the need to reform the Trans Rights Act 2019 and their lived experiences. The conversations during the event brought to light the lessons we can learn from the past to ensure justice in the present is just for all. 

You can download the schedule here.