Not yet azad

In a corner of the main thoroughfare at Jantar Mantar, the main site of political protests in New Delhi, the recent modest but spirited gathering of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) activists and their allies to celebrate the second anniversary of the Delhi High Court's repeal of Section 377 – dubbed Jashn-e-Azadi – passed with little public attention. The media did turn out – at one point, a swarm of photographers overwhelmed the stage and had to be brusquely shooed away so that the organisers could carry on with a roster of heartfelt stories, poetry and the recitation of a list of demands. The list itself, though, which pushed for proactive adoption of measures to protect against discrimination and the replication of 'Transgendered Boards on the lines of the Tamil Nadu and Karnataka government's initiative set up across the country', barely registered in the subsequent reportage.

After significant gains in recent years, the state of LGBT rights in Southasia might have reached an impasse. The still-pending Nepali Constitution will, by all accounts, have extensive provisions in favour of the LGBT community – if the political parties first muster the political will to resolve more divisive issues in the long-delayed document. In India, activists won an important victory when the Delhi High Court declared Indian Penal Code Section 377, relating to same-sex behaviour, to be in violation of the Constitution's spirit of equality and inclusion. The recognition of same-sex marriage in New York, on the heels of the recent passage of the United Nations Human Rights Council's resolution on discrimination of the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, had raised hopes among some activists that the natural course of political activism would deliver similar rights in India.