Identity politics, law and queerness in India: Reflections on six years since Navtej

While visibility is crucial, focusing solely on it can short-circuit the more profound understanding of how queer identities are socially and materially produced, write Aditya Krishna and Sagrika Rajora.

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THIS sixth of September marked six years since the judgment in Navtej Singh Johar versus Union of India. There is a celebratory remembrance of the watershed moment in progressive circles in India. However, to many, these temporal celebrations appear like empty fronts of evasive 'solidarities', which overshadow the years of struggle and activism that transcended mere nominal demands.

It is nobody's case that the decriminalisation of homosexuality was a nominal demand, but the sixth anniversary of Navtej is an opportune moment to reflect upon queer activism in the country and the mainstream socio-legal discourse outlining this activism.

Globalisation and neoliberalism have played a crucial role in shaping the contemporary discourse on queer identity. With the proliferation of Western ideals of democracy and liberal tolerance through global markets, the acceptance of queer identities has become increasingly commodified.

As globalisation intensifies, queer politics in India increasingly mirrors its Western counterparts, prioritising visibility and individual rights over collective struggles against systemic inequalities.

This focus on inclusion into a neoliberal world order has come at a great cost to those who exist at the intersections of class, caste and sexuality. The marginalised queer subject— such as working-class queer people and sex workers— once central to the early queer struggles to end discrimination against AIDS, or oppressive laws such as Indian Penal Code (IPC)'s Section 377, is now pushed to the margins, their struggles eclipsed by the politics of cosmopolitan, upper-middle-class queer identities.