For scores of other sexual minorities , all this quibbling over legal issues matters little. For 30-year-old Mansi, a transgender volunteer working for a Pune-based NGO, Section 377 is still an unknown quantity.

“Let’s stop talking about sex. Most of the time, our issues are viewed as only related to sex,” she says. “We are mocked and don’t get a decent job. Local goons with the support of policemen exploit us sexually and financially. Most of the time, we do not approach authorities fearing more harassment.”

There are those who feel that homosexual factor in the campaigns against Section 377 was blown out of proportion as it is applicable not just to sexual minorities, but also anybody indulging in unnatural sex. “There were few cases in the past booked against sexual minorities under the Section,” says Jamir Thakur, Director, Samabhavana Trust, a Pune-based NGO.

Many feel otherwise. Speaking to The Indian Express, Sunil Babu Pant, MP, Nepal and the first sexual minority MP from Asia says, “Scrapping the law could be a starting point. After this obstacle is removed, doors are open and battle for legal and social change will be easier. The government should ensure specific support programmes to bring them into the mainstream.”

R Raj Rao, a city-based author of ‘Boyfriend’, the soon-to-be released book ‘Engineering College Hostel’ and other books on homosexuals, says, “Homosexuals are seen as criminals, mainly because of the law. The very existence of such a Section is damaging their psychology. It is high time the Section is scrapped.”

For Sam, an 18-year-old MSM (Men having Sex with Men) now working for city NGO Udaan, coming out of the closet was one of the most difficult things that he did in his life. “My educated parents forcibly cut my long hair after I told them of my sexual orientation. Finally, they sent me out of the house,” says Sam.

When sex change is legitimate in many other countries, transsexuals in India do not enjoy any legal support if they wish to change their sex. Even if they undergo a sex change operation, when it comes to getting a passport or any identity documents done, they face a lot of difficulties. Transgenders and transsexuals (after sex change) cannot prove their identity as their birth certificates and present identities do not match. Lesbians face double discrimination in our society, first because of their sex and second because of their sexuality, feels Sheela from Kerala as she narrates how she and her partner Leena decided to end their lives after their families came to know about their ‘unusual friendship’.

“If we had not met a lesbian couple working for Sangama (a Bangalore-based organisation working for sexual minorities) we wouldn’t be alive today,” says Sheela. They were forced to elope after their relationship created a flutter in their hometown. “We were threatened that we would be killed if caught,” she adds.

“Most of the time, upper class, English-speaking gays get more visibility but lesbians are excluded because of their gender. This should change,” says Elavarthi Manohar, founder of Sangama.

Crime...Section 377 of IPC criminalises unnatural offences', i.e. "carnal intercourse against the order of nature"