Reception of the reading down by the Supreme Court of Section 377 should be more circumspect, since there is much in the decision that offers reasons for concern. Rather than making a rupture with the contemporary majoritarian political climate, the decision is, in fact, a continuation of a longer nationalist project aimed at consolidating the ideal citizen subject of the Indian nation state.
The Supreme Court’s judgment on Section 377 is an important reminder of the task that lies ahead for the queer movement. How would homonormativity take shape in this nation, as another form of upper-caste male hegemony? Now that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, and queer persons are formally being called into full-fledged sexual citizenship, how does the queer movement articulate an intersectional politics of hope that insists on forms of emancipation that do not exclude those who are on the wrong side of caste, religion and ethnicity?
The Law Commission recommendations for a new law on sexual assault and deletion of Section 377 has shifted the discourse on rape law amendment to a plea for complete gender neutrality for victims and violators alike. But while this does little to protect vulnerable sections of the population, a gender neutral rape law may open up avenues for inflicting greater trauma and humiliation on a section, already marginalised, and thereby defeat the very purpose of the reform.
