Gender and Sexuality
ALF has been actively involved in the advocacy for the rights of LGBT+ persons, and has extended support to individuals and communities with legal support.
ALF has also produced several research papers, reports and writings to engage with the issues concerning the communities’ rights to equality and dignity. As a part of an ongoing campaign, ALF is also working on making judgements, laws and statutes concerning gender and sexuality rights accessible to non-lawyers.
Podcast – Right against Gender Discrimination in the realm of Religious Practise – in conversation with Zakia Soman
Alternative Law Forum · Gender Discrimination in the realm of religious practise - In Conversation with Zakia Soman - ALF presents a podcast about the right against gender discrimination in the realm of religious practise. The discussion focusses on the Sabarimala judgement, the Haji Ali Dargah case, the Triple ...
Read More
Read More
2nd Edition: Right to Love
To mark the third anniversary of the Navtej decision that read down Section 377 and decriminalises same sex relationships, ALF printed the second edition of Right to Love. Copies of the first edition were distributed widely among law students, representatives of political parties, students, teachers, members of the queer community, parents ...
Read More
Read More
Asserting Dignity In Times of COVID
This report records the moving assertions of dignity made by the transgender community in Bengaluru in carrying out relief work. It raises important questions of, that in the midst of a pandemic is relief work charity?, What are the ethics of doing relief work?, What are the considerations the government ...
Read More
Read More
RIGHT TO LOVE: Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India- A Transformative Constitution and the Rights of LGBT Persons
The decision in Navtej Singh Johar v Union of India, which read down Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code on 6th of September 2018 marked a historic victory for a vibrant and vociferous LGBT movement, which for over 17 years had been demanding the repeal of Section 377 of ...
Read More
Read More
The Illegal Citizen – Course Modules – Sexual Citizenship and Claiming the City
Course on The Illegal Citizen A course that examines the relationship between citizenship, participation and illegality. It consists of two modules. 1. Module on Sexual Citizens This module of the course will seek to understand if there is a sexuality underlying the idea of citizenship. Citizenship is normally framed in abstract ...
Read More
Read More
Why transgender community is struggling inspite of NALSA judgment
http://www.dailyo.in/politics/transgender-nalsa-judgment-aadhar-card-gender-rights-self-identification/story/1/15462.html On April 15, 2014, the Supreme Court passed a landmark judgment recognising the fundamental and civil rights of transgender persons. Since the judgment, the conversation on transgender rights has expanded into two draft forms of legislation and multiple state-level policies. The most powerful aspect of the National Legal Services Authority ...
Read More
Read More
A REPORT ON THE HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS AGAINST TRANSGENDERS IN KARNATAKA, 2014
Violence faced by the transgender community is often invisible or under reported in mainstream media. Further, an insensitive criminal justice system makes reporting even more difficult. In this report, my effort has been to document instances of violence faced by the members of transgender community in the recent past by ...
Read More
Read More
Empathy, Craft and other Lessons to Learn from the US Same-Sex Marriage Decision
The Court recounts James Obergefell’s struggle to be listed as the surviving spouse on his partner’s death certificate, the uncertainty that an unmarried status created in the lives of April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse with respect to their children, and the burden endured by Ijpe DeKoe and Thomas Kostura who ...
Read More
Read More
A Primer on the Transgender Rights Bill
The Rajya Sabha passed the Transgender Rights Bill in April 2015. The following primer prepared by Danish Sheikh of ALF for Orinam offers a guide to it ...
Read More
Read More
Application by Union of India Asking For Clarification of Transgender Judgement
The Union Government has asked the Supreme Court for clarification on its judgment pronounced earlier this year in NLSA v. UOI, which has been reported in The Hindustan Times. Following is the text of the Government application: ...
Read More
Read More
For Those Marked “Other”
On April 24, the Rajya Sabha passed a private member’s bill which provides a comprehensive rights framework for transgender persons. This is a victory of staggering magnitude — not only was it voted in unanimously, it is also the first time in 46 years that a private member’s bill has ...
Read More
Read More
Rajya Sabha passes Transgenders bill aimed to uplift community (Read the Bill)
Rajya Sabha passes Transgenders bill aimed to uplift community Rajya Sabha on Friday passed The Rights of Transgender Persons Bill 2014 with members from across the political spectrum joining hands to demand that the government take steps to bring the transgender community, facing social stigma and ostracism, into the mainstream ...
Read More
Read More
How AAP Could Decriminalise Homosexuality in the National Capital Region
Part I AAP’s commitment towards the politics of change is on test: will it decriminalise homosexuality by amendment, if not outright repeal of Section 377 of the IPC? AAP’s landslide victory in New Delhi has meant a reopening of shrinking democratic space. But a robust democracy itself doesn’t guarantee checks ...
Read More
Read More
Dignity First: One Year of Resistance to Re-Criminalisation of LGBT Lives
11 December 2014 marks one year of Re-Criminalisation of LGBT lives by the Supreme Court of India. This booklet is the product of the collective labours of a number of people including those who testified about their lives, those who collected the narratives, those who protested the judgment of the ...
Read More
Read More
Remembering an Ally: GE Vahanvati’s Unique Contribution
This obituary written by Mayur Suresh and Arvind Narrain first appeared on the Orinam Blog. Former Attorney General Goolam Vahanvati’s passing away on 2 September, 2014 marks a moment of sadness for the LGBT community. Mr Vahanvati will be remembered fondly for his sensitive advocacy against Section 377 of the Indian ...
Read More
Read More
Remembering Naz
The following piece was written by Danish Sheikh and first appeared on Kafila on 2nd July 2014. “We declare that Section 377 IPC, insofar it criminalises consensual sexual acts of adults in private, is violative of Articles 21, 14 and 15 of the Constitution.” Today marks 5 years of the Delhi High ...
Read More
Read More
Ruling in India Not the Last Word
The following piece was written by Gowthaman Ranganathan and first published in the Gay and Lesbian Review on 25 June 2014. “NO GOING BACK!” The message was clear after the Supreme Court of India’s decision to recriminalize homosexuality by reversing the judgment of the Delhi High Court that decriminalized adult consensual same ...
Read More
Read More
Not just his and hers
This opinion piece by Danish Sheikh first appeared in The Indian Express on April 25, 2014. Speaking of the persecution of transgender individuals in India, the Supreme Court observes that the “moral failure lies in society’s unwillingness to contain or embrace different gender identities and expressions”. With this opening acknowledgment, the ...
Read More
Read More
Third, but not separate
This opinion piece by Arvind Narrain first appeared in DNA on 21 April 2014. The Supreme Court in National Legal Services Authority vs Union of India, in a sweeping, rights-affirming judgment for the first time in its institutional history, recognised that transgender persons are full and equal citizens of India. By ...
Read More
Read More
National Legal Services Authority versus Union of India — Preliminary Reactions
This post by Danish Sheikh first appeared on Law and Other Things. In 2004, Kokila, a hijra in Karnataka, was brutally raped by ten men, only to be tortured by the police to whom she went to report this crime. Kokila filed an affidavit to this effect before the Supreme Court ...
Read More
Read More
Crimes of Unreason
Article by Danish Sheikh, first published on Kafila. With the ease of a particularly sadistic magic trick, a 98 page document has sent millions of LGBT individuals time-warping back into pre-2009 criminality. If there were any constitutional justifications for this act, they are not to be found lurking in the pages ...
Read More
Read More
The Road to Decriminalization
Danish sheikh: "the road to decriminalization: litigating India's anti-sodomy law" in 2009, the Indian LGBT community took its first step towards equal sexual citizenship. Sheikh: despite the landmark judgment, there was an equally fierce backlash. Read on Scribd here. Danish Sheikh, Yale Human R... by altlawforum ...
Read More
Read More
We Dissent
Article by Siddharth Narrain, first published on Kafila. The Supreme Court’s decision in Suresh Kumar Kaushal & Another v. Naz Foundation & Others is an unprecedented ruling, deciding to turn the clock back to pre-July 2009, when LGBT persons were criminalized by section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. On close reading, the judgment is ...
Read More
Read More
Struggling for Reason: Fundamental Rights and the Wrongs of the Supreme Court
Article by Siddharth Narrain and Danish Sheikh in the Economic and Political Weekly. Read on Scribd here. Struggling for Reason: Fund... by altlawforum ...
Read More
Read More
It’s Not My Job To Tell You It’s Okay To Be Gay
Paper by Arvind Narrain and Vinay Chandran covering a queer critique on the medicalisation of homosexuality. Read on Scribd here. It's Not My Job To Tell... by altlawforum ...
Read More
Read More
Queer Women and the Law in India
By Ponni Arasu and Priya Thangarajah Read on Scribd here. Queer Women and the Law in ... by altlawforum ...
Read More
Read More
The Articulation of Queer Rights: The Emerging Right to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
Paper by Arvind Narrain on the emerging right to sexual orientation and gender identity. Introduction During the last decade of the 20th century in India, the hitherto private realm of sexuality emerged as a focal point and basis for various forms of political assertion. India is increasingly witness to people ...
Read More
Read More
Sexual Minorities and the Police in India: Towards a Regime of Accountability
The following document is a submission to the Soli Sorabjee Committee set up to reform the Police Act. This submission was made by 39 civil society organizations working in the area of gender, sexuality and rights and was aimed at suggesting reform to ensure that police took the human rights ...
Read More
Read More
Subaltern Queer Cultures in the Era of Hindutva
Issues of sexuality remain inextricably linked to questions of both health and human rights. The discourses surrounding health have had a deeply contradictory impact on the human rights of “queer” people in the Indian context. At one level there is the medical discourse which, under the rubric of the International ...
Read More
Read More
Documentation of a Right that Dares To Speak Its Name: The Delhi HC Naz Foundation Decision
Alternative Law Forum was involved in the Naz Foundation decision case by the Delhi High Court, representing Voices against 377. This section contains various documents which are useful signposts leading up to the High Court decision. 1. Final Written Arguments by Voices Against 377 These are the final written submissions ...
Read More
Read More
Teachers and Academics Against 377
The following is an open letter signed by a number of academics supporting the Delhi High Court decision in the Naz Foundation Case. University teachers, researchers and academics from all over India issued a strong statement in support of the recent Delhi High Court judgement decriminalizing consensual sex among adults ...
Read More
Read More
Towards Gender Inclusivity
Towards Gender Inclusivity by Sunil Mohan and Sumathi Murthy is an auto-ethnographic text that foregrounds facets of the life-worlds of female born gender and sexual minorities in south India. While a self avowedly "non-academic" work, its significance lies first, in its translation of lived I knowledge of a minority towards ...
Read More
Read More
Lecture by Justice Sadashivam on Rights of Transgender People – Sensitising Officers to Provide Access to Justice
A lecture by Supreme Court judge, Justice Sadashivam on the rights of transgender persons. The lecture was for civil judges and delivered on 12 January 2011.https://www.scribd.com/document/192278592/Rights-of-Transgender-People-Sensitising-Officers-to-Provide-Access-to-Justice ...
Read More
Read More
The Right That Dares To Speak Its Name
The following document is a primer on the Naz Foundation decision by the Delhi High Court in 2009. This primer includes a schematic guide to the decision and commentaries analyzing the judgment and examining the wider implications. Read on Scribd here. The Right That Dares to Spe... by altlawforum ...
Read More
Read More
Summary of Final Arguments Before the Delhi HC in the Naz Foundation Case
A summary of the 12 days of final arguments before the Delhi High Court in the Naz Foundation case has been provided in the following document. An edited version of this summary has also been included in the primer “The Right that Dares to Speak Its Name” published by Alternative Law Forum ...
Read More
Read More
Queer: Law and Despised Sexualities in India (Book)
Book by Arvind Narrain that serves as an analytical introduction to law and sexuality in India. It is also a useful guide for activists and scholars interested in working in the area or needing to contact groups. Read on Scribd here. Queer: Law and Despised Sex... by altlawforum ...
Read More
Read More