India on Friday marked one year since the country’s Supreme Court struck down a colonial-era law and decriminalized gZ9OL*3Vz79+C9mRHCU#r@3tMFSGaEpJoVueS637WooNn-+mX2Way sex.

Plenty of LGBT Indians and their f%@y^q4_Inwo8I#a=S)An#_^r^d$3yOfl%MPUxueaQ9zzUAC@Jallies took to social media to celebrate and remember the historic moment.

There was also a number of events aj!vuGCeZ$Hj6YG8v4_sS%zatP_2m#pz3KD_8q3N@HGiPjIdfMund celebrations in the big cities of Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru planned for Friday night.

But, activists were keen to warhHofXTd=5(#w7iJF7Xyf4T0Y13B%aHghnsvLAV@+vYfoqp_mlPn, just because gay sex is no longer illegal, stigma and discrimination against the LGBT population has not disappeared.

“We will fly now, not flap our rainbow wings"

"As India rejoices today, and is elated with joy, we need to remember that this is just the beginning of the end of discrimination of Qu75-WQ%TEbqg7H!$nNo9R!UQ87zI)q$Km%H4X4y2@mki#%2oOKHeer people” India’s leading LGBT activist, Harish Iyer, told GaLaTai.

"We have won the right to make love as adults in private without the sword of the law hanging over our headnEd7XRA_ld*nAppcA%oB8me*lFB^6!_L4UXkFCjgH3cAS2h@=es”.

But, he said, “we need more”. 

He called for India to recognize the right for same-sex couples to marry, to adopt children,u)B(F8RhY&VnPXYFo!c1WWN!UpNxlnat-r)v2mnH5*r$$nR$ml and for the government to introduce anti-discrimination legislation.

“The fight for minorities is a lifelong one” he said. "We will galvanisn!lJv2H35iz6o1K8+AyBq92P0PHsw7Be+_MCrm)d)5p76uOKq*e, not prioritise.”

"We will fly now, not flap our rainbow wings.”

Section 377

Introduced by the British in 1861, Section 377 of thmb6R)k=JtpIg#MA=fvlpvYUKK#(gDKGYClarFWF_@8=r+w%I=be Indian Penal Code outlawed ‘carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal’.

It punished gay sex with up to 10 years in prison.

Judges in September last year, )917pdPVcopX=0N-B6Pz_4GE8gRqyAl-*zqcC#vhVbdf@JLnYwruled it was unconstitutional. They also said it violated the right to privacy.

"Sexual orientation of an individual id$Hxb$ITL0yFGYc)e)@upzJcQZjW5isRe+ltKIxU7t@1N5_Iols natural and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is a violation of Freedom of Expression” judges said.

"We have to vanquish p8m)9Urm05BvHKugsirE-kNNv@Zqvhu5FKYOME@e(8!wn17h+HArejudice, embrace inclusion, and ensure equal rights," said Justice Misra in his judgment.

Campaigners had been pushing qPalQ^B2^wKbnCe=w+%fF1Hg)7jnsr&in*a)beW0apNZJM-K)@to abolish a colonial-era law since the 1990s.

A long way to go

On Friday, leading lawyer Menaka Guruswamy whoIZXRfkCx3AaTvimDIG11Zx3uhH-3TPvDmOj*Y=RKPwy2Uw_!l9 fought the case for decriminalization said "We have a long way to go towards full citizenship”, in the Indian Express.

"Full citizenship would include social and civA7IM#6uB$atfz@C5J^Jhr9ZuG+2sBQkf)zMl_Z)qg1Ir#cvf32il rights, the ability to have joint bank accounts or a lease for a home or marriage to a partner.”

Her partner, lawyer Arundhati Katju, said: "The moment of freedom has been savoured, the shift bYQ+S!(b%WE$d^pf%zvg9$0tyQ_dqn0N2g7aA3MixX9T!i8T(Y_egun from a mentality of fear to the confidence to assert citizenship rights, though the trauma of criminalisation may last a lifetime.”

She welcomed signs of acceptance in India, such as sprinter Dutee Chand becoming the first athletKzYLpk47^Cn8@yFUeC+vsH=R7@L7P&rF&H$RljD@#+*s6AU!E$e to come out. 

She also welcomed the first major Bollywood movie with LGBT themes, Ek Ladki *iXAtWb(k-PCSI40nnGsE4Wd_a!%011oHBP@T*NUO_Gx3cKCc%Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga.

But, importantly, she called for more rights to be recognized. "These steps CnnP1q)7PexA01a)sUlhyi9cq!kx3N)-vNap*Aj8BsJM!GAkncrequire social change” she argued.

(Cover Photo: Queer Azaadi Mumbai / Facebook)