Being gay still illegal in Indian Army, 'high time' military gets in sync with times

Counterview Desk
An online petition has been floated, addressed to Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister of India, stating that, in a landmark judgement handed down in 2018, the Supreme Court overturned a colonial-era law that criminalizes homosexual activities.
"After all these years, it’s high time the military gets in sync with the spirit of the time", the petition insists, pointing towards how his ministry is "censoring a film that shows a gay soldier", calling it "a major blow to the creativity of an industry India should be proud of."
"Mr Singh, we call on you to reverse the Ministry of Defence’s decision to reject a film about a gay man in the Army", adding, "The ministry should rethink its stand on this issue, which is inspired by a real-life struggle."

Text:

In India, any film showing content relating to the defence forces is required to get clearance from the Ministry of Defence.
That’s why, on December 16, 2021, Indian award-winning filmmaker and gay rights advocate Onir submitted to the Ministry of Defence the script of his new film, inspired by the story of a gay Major who quit the service.
After working freely on movies portraying queer lives and showing police abuse of gay characters, even when same-sex relationships were criminalized in India, he couldn’t expect that a fictitious story about a gay man in the Army, would be met with censorship in 2022.
But that is what has happened, despite the script being very respectful of the Army: On January 20, 2022, the Ministry of Defence communicated to the filmmaker that the script “has been analysed in detail. It is regretted to inform that the script has not been cleared by IHQ of MoD (Army).”
On questioning, Onir was told on a call that there was no specific problem with the script, but it cannot be cleared as being gay is “illegal” in the army.
Despite the Indian Supreme Court decriminalizing consensual same-sex relationships in 2018, it looks like the Indian Army have not recognized it yet and still treat anyone from the queer community as illegal.
This story has already been in the public domain for over two years, since Major J Suresh, who has retired now, gave an interview to New Delhi Television (NDTV) about his not being able to be himself in the Army and, therefore, having to quit it, to be honest to himself.
This story has to be told because it’s unacceptable that being queer still does not allow someone to serve the nation that they love by joining the Army.
---
Click here to sign the petition

Comments

Was Netaji forced to alter face, die in obscurity in USSR in 1975? Was he so meek?

By Rajiv Shah This should sound almost hilarious. Not only did Subhas Chandra Bose not die in a plane crash in Taipei, nor was he the mysterious Gumnami Baba who reportedly passed away on 16 September 1985 in Ayodhya, but we are now told that he actually died in 1975—date unknown—“in oblivion” somewhere in the former Soviet Union. Which city? Moscow? No one seems to know.

Love letters in a lifelong war: Babusha Kohli’s resistance in verse

By Ravi Ranjan* “War does not determine who is right—only who is left.” Bertrand Russell’s words echo hauntingly in our times, and few contemporary Hindi poets embody this truth as profoundly as Babusha Kohli. Emerging from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Kohli has carved a unique space in literature by weaving together tenderness, protest, and philosophy across poetry, prose, and cinema. Her work is not merely artistic expression—it is resistance, refuge, and a call for peace.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Authoritarian destruction of the public sphere in Ecuador: Trumpism in action?

By Pilar Troya Fernández The situation in Ecuador under Daniel Noboa's government is one of authoritarianism advancing on several fronts simultaneously to consolidate neoliberalism and total submission to the US international agenda. These are not isolated measures, but rather a coordinated strategy that combines job insecurity, the dismantling of the welfare state, unrestricted access to mining, the continuation of oil exploitation without environmental considerations, the centralization of power through the financial suffocation of local governments, and the systematic criminalization of all forms of opposition and popular organization.

Echoes of Vietnam and Chile: The devastating cost of the I-A Axis in Iran

By Ram Puniyani The recent joint military actions by Israel and the United States against Iran have been devastating. Like all wars, this conflict is brutal to its core, leaving a trail of human suffering in its wake. The stated pretext for this aggression—the brutality of the Ayatollah Khamenei regime and its nuclear ambitions—clashes sharply with the reality of the diplomatic landscape. Iran had expressed a willingness to remain at the negotiating table, signaling a readiness to concede points emerging from dialogue.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

The price of silence: Why Modi won’t follow Shastri, appeal for sacrifice

By Arundhati Dhuru, Sandeep Pandey* In 1965, as India grappled with war and a crippling food crisis, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri faced a United States that used wheat shipments under the PL-480 agreement as a lever to dictate Indian foreign policy. Shastri’s response remains legendary: he appealed to the nation to skip one meal a day. Millions of middle-class households complied, choosing temporary hunger over the sacrifice of national dignity. Today, India faces a modern equivalent in the energy sector, yet the leadership’s response stands in stark contrast to that era of self-reliance.

False claim? What Venezuela is witnessing is not surrender but a tactical retreat

By Manolo De Los Santos The early morning hours of January 3, 2026, marked an inflection point in Venezuela and Latin America’s centuries-long struggle for self-determination and independence. Operation Absolute Resolve, ordered by the Trump administration, constituted the most brutal and direct military assault on a sovereign state in the region in recent memory. In a shocking operation that left hundreds dead, President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores were illegally kidnapped from Venezuelan soil and transported to the United States, where they now face fabricated charges in a New York federal detention facility. In the two months since this act of war, a torrent of speculation has emerged from so-called experts and pundits across the political spectrum. This has followed three main lines: One . The operation’s success indicated treason at the highest levels of the Bolivarian Revolution. Two . Acting President Delcy Rodríguez and the remaining leadership have abandone...

Gujarat government urged to introduce heat-stress safety rules for construction workers

By A Representative A representation submitted to Gujarat Labour, Skill Development and Employment Minister Kunvarji Bavaliya has urged the state government to introduce legally enforceable safety standards to protect construction workers from extreme heat and heatwaves, and to launch a financial assistance scheme for labourers affected by climate-related health risks.

Search This Blog