India’s LGBTI rights have been on a rollercoaster ride this past decade with a fight over the colonial-era Section 377 laws. First decriminalisation in 2009, then same sex acts became a crime again in 2013 before the law was again reversed by the Supreme Court in 2018. It was a great cause for celebration in the world’s second most populous nation. But legalisation doesn’t mean acceptance. And queer people still suffer discrimination and exclusion, even by their own families.
One way to improve acceptance is to tell the stories of queer people in film. It’s exactly what our guest – filmmaker Onir did in 2005, creating the first film about AIDS and same-sex relation in India. Now he has joined forces with the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne to help filmmakers tell stories of diversity.