Author Sharif D Rangnekar on the 377 verdict

Today, we mark one year of the historic Supreme Court verdict which made Article 377 unconstitutional. The archaic law was finally read down after years of battle, both inside and outside the courtroom, giving India an immensely proud moment and a long overdue win for the LGBTQA community.

On this significant day, we asked Sharif Rangnekar, author of Straight To Normal, to share his thoughts on the verdict and how it has impacted his life. Here’s what he has to say—

‘A year ago, the Supreme Court legitimized ‘gay sex’, removing the criminal tag from people like me who had consensual sex with men. While I, of course, was a criminal for several years of my ‘gay’ life, now at least I feel a sense of relief that I am no longer living in the fear that the police may pick me up based on a complaint by someone else.

While this order is historic in itself, the general inferences in the media then that we were free and love had won, were hugely misplaced. All that had happened was the decriminalization of a sexual act. Not all sexual acts occur under the assumption of love. It could be lust. It could be the path to love. Nor are we free in the way the heterosexual world is.

We have no law as such that protects us from bullying in schools and colleges. Nothing protects at the workplace unless an organization on its own decides to have a policy that gives us some form of equity and equality. Government authorities are still to be sensitized about gender and sexual orientation. There are no marriage or civil union rights or civil rights related to health, insurance or inheritance.

Since the order, I have lost a few friends to suicide. A young boy took his life in Chennai after being bullied. A lesbian girl was tied to a tree and beaten up. This occurred in a small town of Madhya Pradesh. Depression cases are on the rise too.

Think for a moment what it is to be without these rights—the ones you never have to think of being in the majority, because it is normal for you, most likely taken for granted. If we look at this reality, it would be hard for anyone to claim that we are free or had been freed by the reading down of Section 377 last year. It is just that we could speak out and up, without the fear of being arrested.

In that sense, this order did give us a voice—a louder one than we had. But it is also a reminder of what needs to be done and the battle up ahead of us for equity and equality.’

— Sharif D Rangnekar

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Learn more about Sharif’s journey in his book, Straight To Normal.

You can get the title here.