SC 2018 Opinions
This is a collection of opinions and personal narratives about the Section 377 verdict announced on 6 September 2018 by the Supreme Court. Please let us know if we have missed any. The articles are listed in alphabetical order of author names.
- Section 377: Impact will be felt beyond India
AP Shah - Section 377 is gone, but the fact that it took 71 years, and a court to do it, raises questions on Indian democracy
Aakar Patel - Section 377 verdict: How the rainbow war was won
Aditya Bondopadhyay - SC verdict on Section 377 won’t end fight against inequality; love is as much about caste, class and religious struggle
Akhil Kang - From today, I am not a criminal: Akkai Padmashali
Akkai Padmashali - 9 Years On, How Section 377 Verdict Vindicated Justice AP Shah
Alok Prasanna Kumar - Section 377 judgment could form beginning of a body of path-breaking jurisprudence in India
Alok Prasanna Kumar - Freedom’s second coming
Anand Grover and Tripti tandon - SC Read Down 377 And My Parents Told Me to Broadcast My Sexuality
Arnab Nandy - Section 377 Read Down, But What About Kashmir’s LGBTQ+ Community?
Arshie Qureshi - 377 verdict is a new dawn not just for LGBT rights but for individual liberties in India
Arundhati Katju - Rights over wrong
Arundhati Katju - Section 377: A greater transformation
Arvind Narrain - Section 377 verdict: Decriminalising homosexuality is a legal win but erasing social stigma will be a long and hard fight
Ashok Row Kavi - India’s judges make history on gay rights — while its politicians fail the test
Barkha Dutt - A law of its time
Bibek Dibroy - Section 377 verdict removes an albatross from many necks, but expect empire of majoritarianism to strike back
Bikram Vohra - Section 377 Verdict Should Be Treated as a Marker of Evolution of Mental Health Rights
Chaitali Sinha - The Section 377 judgment could be a victory for public health, if India’s health system steps up
Chapal Mehra - None of us are free till all of us are free: Why the 377 verdict is important for all Indians
Chayanika Shah - When the Constitution came out in flaming rainbow colours!
Debjyoti Ghosh - SC ruling on Section 377 has removed legal barriers, now emotional ones must be tackled
Devdutt Pattanaik - How a ‘pink book’ paved the way for equal rights for LGBT community
Dhamini Ratnam and Dhrubo Jyoti - A love without a name: Identifying homosexuality in Indian language and literature
Dhrubo Jyoti - ‘The tears are gone’: The journey of a queer person from 2013 to now
Dhrubo Jyoti - Section 377: The fight for LGBT rights has just begun
Dhrubo Jyoti - September 6 will go down in history as the day India became ..
Elton John - For all that we may become: on the Section 377 verdict
Gautam Bhan - Why the Judgement Scrapping Section 377 Is a Vision Statement
Govind Manoharan - Section 377 Verdict: Battle in Court Ends, the One at Home Begins
Hardeep Singh - A victory, a new battle
Harish Iyer - Section 377 verdict: Legally safe, socially targetted, Kashmir’s LGBTQ face a huge challenge of acceptance
Ifra Jan - The rainbow in our clouds
Jayna Kothari - Message from a father
K.S. Vasudevan - With the Supreme Court scrapping Section 377, can India’s queer movement imagine a life beyond it?
Kartik Maini - Why I played ‘Jab pyaar kiya’ on full blast in South Africa
Keval Harie - Discrimination must be addressed without delay
Madhu Mehra - Freedom from Section 377: Supreme Court’s verdict is a crucial milestone in the long struggle for equal rights
Manish - Supreme Court’s Section 377 verdict: Straight people of India, this gayzaadi is yours too
Manish Gaekwad - Section 377 Verdict: Gay marriage, inheritance, adoption laws unlikely; ‘majoritarian’ view will keep State, SC away
Markandeya Katju - This is the start of a new era for India’s LGBT communities
Mayur Suresh - Section 377: SC has distinguished itself as an institution invested in protection of all Indians
Menaka Guruswamy - Section 377: Legalising homosexuality in India
Mulay - Section 377 verdict: Navtej Johar vs Union of India opens doors for broader rights for the LGBTQ community
Namrata Mukherjee - Section 377: Decriminalising homosexuality is great, but the fight for true equality is not yet over
Nandita Saikia - Supreme Court’s verdict on Section 377 must spark further legal changes to end alienation of LGBT community
Natasha Maheshwari - ‘Rainbow warriors’: Indians who fought against Section 377 have won a decisive victory for freedom
Neeha Nagpal - How to be a good gay and celebrate the end of section 377
Nimisha Agarwal - Section 377 Ruling May Be Landmark, but SC Is Yet to Pass the Real Test
Nizam Pasha - Sexual equality affirmed: on the Section 377 verdict
Pulapre Balakrishnan - Section 377 Read Down. But What About Women? Don’t Women Have Sex?
Revati Laul - Life after Section 377
Rōmal Lāisram - Life beyond Section 377: And we finally saw the sun
Rōmal Lāisram - A long & hard battle of a Sri Lankan activist for gay rights
Rosanna Flamer-Caldera - Now, there is a pink rupee in India, and may it appreciate
Roy Sinai - To love, live and laugh
Ruchir Joshi - Section 377: A battle half won
Ruth Vanita - It was art that first decriminalised gay sex
Sadanand Menon - India decriminalises gay sex: Another win for the Supreme Court
Sandeep Gopalan - ‘You don’t hurt anyone by loving someone, no?’
Sandip Roy - Section 377: Whose Concerns Does The Judgment Address?
Saptarshi Mandal - Supreme Court judgment on Section 377: First step in long march towards full citizenship
Saurabh Kirpal - Section 377 Ruling: Pride Restored, Judiciary No More an Iron Cage
Shashi Tharoor - Here to Stay: Is India ready for decriminalisation of homosexuality?
Shohini Ghosh - 377 verdict lays ground for minority rights to be protected against majoritarian will
Shoaib Daniyal - Beyond Section 377: What About Inequalities Within LGBTQ+ Groups?
Shreya Ila Anasuya - Sec 377: SC has signalled a fresh phase in the evolution of rights jurisprudence
Shyam Divan - Love after the time of 377
Siddharth Narrain - Section 377: Court decision welcome, but will that change societal perception towards LGBTQ?
Sugra Khanwala - Section 377: Drawing a curtain on the past
Suhrith Parthasarathy - Forward-looking 377 order holds lessons for the world
Urvashi Vaid - First person: How Section 377 was used as a weapon to blackmail gay people in India
Vijay Hiremath - Apology pending, in former colonies of British empire
Vikram Doctor - Section 377: The papers and the fight that finally got us here
Vikram Doctor - The rainbow flag flies with pride in India
Vikram Doctor - Supreme Court partially strikes down Section 377: For Dakshaben, with love
Vivek Divan - Section 377: If homophobia gave me moments of sheer terror, the verdict erased those emotions of pain and shame
Wendell Rodricks - Now, people like me won’t have to think about the ugly consequences before coming out
Zara Sheikha - Why Section 377 Verdict Should Be India’s Collective Heartbeat
Zoheb Hossain