LGBT Issues in India

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LGBT issues in India
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Introduction
The LGBT population around the world is one of the smallest and marginalized
communities around the globe (Byne, 2014). As a reason of their sexual orientation that violates
the social and moral norms, the community has been viewed as a lesser human being who results
to the violation of their rights and denial of social needs such as health and emotional rights. This
has called for the intervention of human right bodies to come out and speak out for these
communities for their right not to be violated and advocating for their recognition and calling for
the governments to legalize LGBT rights. It is illegal and unnatural in most of the country to
engage in gay activities and it is punishable by law, but this being a crime of human sexual
violation some countries like India have legalized. In this case, I will discuss the issues
pertaining to LGBT and challenges the LGBT communities are facing in India.
Definition
Lesbianism, gay, bisexual and transgender is the group of the third gender among the
world population. The group has been existence but in secretion due to their sexual orientation.
According to the human right, the group has continued to gain popularity and seeking justice for
recognition as a community and seeking the legalization of their rights (Wagaman, 2016).
Background
India is one of the seventh largest countries, most populous and most populous in
democracy in the world. India has a population of more than 1.3 billion people with the highest
birth rate per second. The country has 8% of members of LGBT and 2.5 million people are gay.
Historically homosexuality was prevalent and has never been considered evil in India until the
British colonial reign in the 18th century which made homosexuality punishable by law for about

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ten years. In September 2018 a constituted 5 judge bench of Supreme Court invalidated part of
377 section of the constitution legalizing homosexuality. In 2012 it was recorded that 2.5 million
people are gay as recorded in the health care of India but this number could rise since most of the
gay people do not conceal their identity and live in the closet for fear of being discriminated. The
invalidation of the constitution to legalize homosexuality has done less to the members since the
community has continued to face social injustices. The member of LGBT has no specific
demographic location and this has continued to fuel negative attitude towards people who
identified or perceived as homosexual or lesbianism. From the BBC world news website, the
legalizing of homosexual in India was received with uproar and was a way to make people know
homosexuality is normal and not a disease. The news continues to suggest that the victims,
especially in the village, are the most affected because of lack of information and discrimination
by their family and friends ("What it means to be gay in rural India", 2019).
Health issues
Members of LGBT faces major challenges in the community some of them being access
to the quality of government health services. Some of the health issues the community faces
include; psychological issues, lack of proper medical care, and emotional torture. Despite the
ruling to legalize the gay rights, and ensuring that the gay community has access to emergency
health care the community has continued to face injustices in the health care due to
discrimination by the health professionals. Many guy rapes are never reported due to the police
and in health sectors due to high stigmatization by the community (Lutwak, 2014).
Psychologically, there is a lack of competent councilors who can guide and give therapy to
children who are being oriented as LGBT. This leaves the children with no answered question on