“Because it is too late, you cannot put it back into the box.” A qualitative study on LGBTQ activism in Mumbai

Abstract: People of other sexual and/or gender identity than the prevailing are subject to discrimination. In India a law criminalizing homosexual acts, known as Section 377, was read down in 2009 to be reinstated in 2013. The purpose of this thesis was to examine how LGBTQ activists in Mumbai perceived the change of the section 377 and what they describe as main factors affecting the living situation of LGBTQ individuals in the Indian society. The research questions consider what the informants perceived as consequences as well as how they describe the limitations of achieving the movement's goals. The material was gathered through interviews with eight individuals working on LGBTQ rights in various ways in Mumbai, reports and articles about LGBTQ activism in India and Section 377. Through queer theory and the perspective of intersectionality the material was analyzed and the study's findings indicate that t greater visibility could be achieved in relation to the law changes as well as language and internal discouragement are found to restrict the development towards equal rights.