Tracing the birth of the LGBTQ rights movement

1986 : Journalist Ashok Row Kavi writes what would become the first “coming out” story in India in Savvy magazine

1987 : First documented case of same-sex marriage. Leela and Urmila, two Madhya Pradesh policewomen, marry; both lose their jobs

1991 : Siddhartha Gautam publishes the first ‘citizen’s report’ on the status of at-risk homosexual men called ‘Less Than Gay’

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How the LGBTQ rights movement in India gained momentum

1994 : Kavi sets up Humsafar Trust in Mumbai, which becomes one of the oldest LGBTQ organisations in India

1996 :

BOMGaY , a 12-minute film starring Rahul Bose and author R. Raj Rao, is released

1999 : India’s first Gay Pride Parade called the Calcutta Rainbow Pride is held. It has only 15 people marching

2001 : Naz Foundation and Lawyers Collective file a PIL asking the court to read down Section 377

2010 : Delhi High Court passes a landmark judgment granting equal rights to ‘sexual minorities’