Citizens for Justice and Peace
Pride and priorities: Gov’t should create reliable support systems for LGBTQIA+ persons in crisis A Madras HC judge has setting new standards government institutions to ensure equal rights, respect and protection
10-Jun-2021
In a landmark approach to delivering justice, Justice Ventakesh, a Madras High Court judge, recently underwent sessions with a counseling psychologist and members of the LGBTQIA+ community, before passing orders in a case where a lesbian couple sought protection from violence and intimidation by their own families. Justice Venkatesh’s unique approach to jurisprudence The court…
LGBTQIA+: Madras HC guidelines for sensitisation of stakeholders Detailed directions to police, judiciary, legal aid services and central ministries
09-Jun-2021
The Madras High Court on June 7 established a landmark approach towards addressing the social issue of acceptance of the LGBTQIA+ community. The 104-page judgement delivered by Justice Venkatesh is a pioneering judgement in the way it has dealt with clearing out the court’s prejudices and has made an attempt towards transformative jurisprudence. The judgement describes in…
Diversity and Inclusion in a post 377 India Are we there yet?
06-Sep-2019
We were once deemed outlandish and the outcast… dubbed irregular and shunned into the shadows. But not anymore. Exactly a year ago, the Indian Supreme Court stood by India’s thriving rainbow community restoring our dignity as equal citizens. But while the judgment was historic indeed, we are still a long way from the inclusive utopia…
Hope Lost: India’s Transgenders and the Trans Bill 2018 Understand why the now lapsed bill drew such strong criticism
16-Feb-2019
The Transgender Bill 2018, introduced by the Modi government, ostensibly to ‘protect’ the Transgender community has evoked strong reactions from the community as well as progressive minded people throughout India. It is largely seen as a conservative, even devious piece of legislation that will irreversibly harm the Transgender community. In this must watch video, CJP…
Judgments and Orders that Empowered Citizens in 2018 Decisions by Indian courts that helped strengthen Human Rights
31-Dec-2018
2018 was an important year in the courts for several key human rights issues. Here is the annual round up of 12 such judgments that helped deliver justice and set right several historical wrongs. SC respects Hadiya’s choice On March 8, 2018, the Supreme Court set aside a Kerala High Court judgment that had annulled…
Supreme Court sets the Rainbow Free! Decriminalises sex between consenting adults under Section 377, bestiality remains a crime
06-Sep-2018
In a historic judgement, the Supreme Court of India has granted adult Indian Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex and Asexual (LGBTQIA) people the dignity they have always deserved… the right to love who they love and to not be punished for expressing that love sexually and privately. In doing so, the SC has granted…
NHRC sets up LGBTI Core Group, ropes in activist Harish Iyer 15 member group to advise the commission on harmonising existing laws with needs of the community
14-Aug-2018
Equal Rights activist Harish Iyer has been appointed to the National Human Rights Commission’s (NHRC) Core Group on Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Intersex (LGBTI) issues. This is the first group set up exclusively to look into the concerns and challenges of India’s vibrant rainbow community and marks a step towards greater understanding and acceptance of…
SC to start hearing petitions to read down Section 377 Pleas to decriminalise consensual sex in private between adults of any gender or sexuality
09-Jul-2018
The Indian Supreme Court is all set to start hearing a series of petitions that call for the reading down of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. In these petitions the plea is to decriminalise consensual sex between adults in private. Section 377 that criminalises ‘carnal intercourse against the order of nature’, also affects heterosexual…
Stonewall Uprising: A Rainbow Rebellion, Not a Riot An account of the event that sparked the Gay Rights Revolution in the United States
28-Jun-2018
June 28 marks the anniversary of Stonewall Uprising, one of the most important events in the international LGBTQ movement. It started with a raid by the New York Police Department (NYPD) at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village in New York City in the early hours of the morning in 1969. This was followed by days…
Homophobia is Anti-National: Keshav Suri #DesiMillennial Interview on decriminalisation of Section 377
01-May-2018
Section 377, that criminalises ‘unnatural sex‘ has been the bane of every Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex and Asexual (LGBTQIA) person’s existence in India. But with feisty Millennials like Keshav Suri moving the Indian Supreme Court to decriminalise Section 377, it appears that the day is not far when the sun would shine bright…