FREEDOM TO LOVE: THE QUEER SAGA IN INDIA

Abstract

An equal love

“Through Love's Great Power
Through love's great power to be made whole in mind and body, heart and soul –
Through freedom to find joy, or be by dint of joy itself set free
In love and in companionship: This is the true and natural good.
To undo justice, and to seek to quash the rights that guard the weak –
To sneer at love, and wrench apart the bonds of body, mind and heart
With specious reason and no rhyme: This is the true unnatural crime.”

On 16th September 2006, the following open letter for overturning Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, addressed to the Government of India, members of the judiciary, and all citizens, was released at a press conference in New Delhi.

The letter went under the name of Vikram Seth, among the most famous Indian authors in the English language, himself openly bisexual (or “partially gay” as he called himself in interviews to the mass media around the release of this letter); Swami Agnivesh, a well-known social activist of the Arya Samaj and most famous for his role in movements against bonded labor and caste-based violence; Siddharth Dube, a public health specialist and consultant to the World Bank and the United Nations; Nitin Desai, a former UN Undersecretary General; Aditi Desai, a sociologist; and Captain Lakshmi Sahgal, described as a freedom fighter and recipient of the Padma Vibhushan.

In addition, the letter was signed by more than 150 eminent personalities, including the likes of anthropologist Veena Das, activist and writer Arundhati Roy, professor of law Upendra Baxi, film director Shyam Benegal, and an impressive assortment of actors, academicians, high-level public servants, TV personalities, journalists, lawyers, pulp fiction writers, filmmakers, artists, doctors, designers, and musicians. In short, this was a rather top-heavy list, featuring some of the biggest names in elite India. The cherry on top was a separate letter by Nobel laureate Amartya Sen in support of the Seth letter.

“Words are magic things often enough, but even the magic of words sometimes cannot convey the magic of the human spirit and of a nation’s passion.”
— Nehru