when lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals protested against police brutality and demanded equal treatment. Police attacked the Stonewall Inn, a gay club in New York in the early hours of June 28, 1969, and began dragging patrons outside. As patrons resisted arrest and a gathering mob of onlookers tossed bottles and money at the cops, tensions swiftly rose. After years of persecution by authorities, New York's LGBT community erupted in three-day riots in their neighborhoods.

 

The rebellion sparked the beginnings of an LGBT rights movement. To hold political officials responsible, members staged rallies, talked with them, and interrupted public meetings. The nation's first Gay Pride marches were conducted in 1969 (one year after the Stonewall uprising) in the United States, with people walking with rainbow-colored flags to celebrate the LGBTQ+ groups' hardships and successes, and has since grown into an international phenomenon. 

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Throughout Pride Month, LGBT people and allies celebrate their successes since Stonewall but also advocate for what needs to be done to achieve full equality and non-discrimination in their own countries, as well as in solidarity with LGBT people around the world who face anti-LGBT discrimination and violence. Pride parades, parties, conferences, picnics, concerts and symposia are among the events held during LGBT Pride Month, which draw millions of people from all over the world. During this month, memorials are organized for community members who have died as a result of hate crimes or HIV/AIDS. The commemoration month's goal is to highlight the effect that LGBTQ people have had on history on a local, national, and global scale. Here unfurls a Rainbow flag, designed by artist Gilbert Baker in 1978, robustly displaying LGBTQ pride in six colors. Life, is symbolized by red, orange for a healing touch, yellow sunshine as a ray of hope, the green of nature, harmonious blue, and purple is spirit. The original eight-color flag held the hot pink to represent sex and turquoise to depict magic or art. To the speculative eyes, this rainbow is an accomplishment of humanity, and an acceptance, physical and psychological.

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Since the UN's inception in 1945, civil society organizations have pushed for the recognition of human rights based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Discrimination based on sexual orientation has not become a recognized violation of International Human Rights law until the 1994 Toonen v. Australia case, which was presented before the UNHRC. In 2007, a group of independent experts met in Indonesia to articulate clear guidance for international human rights standards and their application to issues related to sexual orientation, as case laws in the area slowly evolved and instances of LGBTQ+ human rights violations gained increased attention. The Yogyakarta Principles, which have stood as a benchmark for LGBTQ+ rights ever since are the result of their work. A global effort through activism, governmental and nongovernmental organizations, and local communities for recognition and protection of LGBTQ+ citizens is gradually and positively accelerating in recent times. Still, many countries face difficulty in accommodating and accepting this humane ideology. Oppression coupled with abuse, imprisonment, and death threats are rampant, forcing governmental actions to launch regulatory laws to protect this community from being legally, socioeconomically, and politically marginalized.

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Anti-Gay Laws of the former British colonial government, have been strongly contested against, in post-independent India. Seventy-five years of our glory as we boast of equality, fraternity, and liberty, we still are the prisoners of our prejudices and conservative mentality. In Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India, a five-judge Supreme Court Constitution bench unanimously decriminalized part of a 158-year-old colonial statute under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which criminalizes homosexuality. Thus, the sanctity of our constitutional right to equality was preserved. Indian governmental efforts heralded a new era for the LGBTQ+ community and activists who celebrated this historic judgment making India 26th country in the world to legalize homosexuality.

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Today, more Indian teenagers than ever before embrace homosexuality and queer identities, yet acceptance of their sexuality and the ability to freely express their gender choices remain a daily fight for LGBT persons within the limits of their families, homes, and schools. Families in rural India deal with LGBT persons in their own ways, distant from meet-ups, gay pride parades, and heated Twitter disputes. In certain areas, covert honor killings are arranged such that a young homosexual man's sole option for survival is to flee to a metropolis in the dead of night, with no money or social support. Lesbian women in various areas of the world are subjected to family-sanctioned corrective rapes, which are frequently carried out by family members. According to Vyjayanti Vasanta Mogli, a transwoman LGBT activist and public policy scholar at Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Hyderabad, who has openly spoken about her abuse at school, lesbian women and transmen in the rural areas of India  end up at the bottom of the hierarchy when it comes to basic human rights within the family and village. She remembers Ambedkar when talking of the socioeconomic environment in rural regions of India. “Ambedkar thought of the village as a unit of violence and that is most true for LGBT issues," she says. “Village medics and babas often prescribe rape to cure lesbians of homosexuality. Refusal to marry brings more physical abuse. Stories of family acceptance that you see on TV and other media are more of an urban phenomenon."

 

A proven uneasiness at the thought of proximity to the LGBTQ community cannot be denied by anyone and remains a hallmark of a self-proclaimed decent society. Many legal reforms have been realized, but the struggle for societal validation still prevails. Theories of social inclusion regarding the psychosocial acceptance of anyone in the society cannot be imposed upon just through rulings of the Supreme Court. Allowing sexual acts between same-sex couples will not bring them at equal peril as other citizens since the future of same-sex marriage, legal sanctity of same-sex couple adoption, right against oppression, and other issues are still up in the air, and the community is still battling for them. As Indians, we have accepted all races, religions invaders, and diverse cultures. Inclusion of this community isn't a larger issue that cannot be resolved.

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- This article is written by Kartikeya Kothari 

First Year Law student at Maharashtra National Law University, Mumbai

and Member of Research wing in the

Centre for Women, Child Rights and Gender Justice