With the Supreme Court decriminalizing homosexuality, September 6 came as a watershed day for millions of LGBTQ Indians.
Four days after the verdict, Apurva Asrani, the screen-writer of films such as Aligarh, Shahid and Simran, took to Facebook to make public his 11-year-old relationship with his partner Siddhant.
Sharing a photo of the two standing in front of the Eiffel Tower, he wrote, “11 years of togetherness. We loved openly even when the law tried to stop us. The only difference now is that we can share our love with the world."
On Thursday, when the apex court passed the landmark ruling, he wrote on his timeline, “At the stroke of the mid-day hour, as the conscience of many slept, India’s LGBTQ awoke to light & freedom. This moment may have come 71 years too late in history, 71 years after our brethren attained freedom; but the soul of a community, long suppressed, has finally found utterance. Congratulations my friends."
In an interview with Indian Express, he said, “I cried when I read that (the SC judgement. I realized that I had been putting up a brave front all these years. When people cracked mean gay jokes, when housing societies threw me out, when my family felt humiliated for my personal choices. I cried because many of my friends and peers died before their time; they suffocated because this world didn’t let them be themselves even in their private spaces."
Soon after the verdict, the 40-year-old film writer went to Goa to celebrate with his friends. Sharing photos of their get-together, he wrote, “We celebrated our first night ever as ‘non-criminals’ and boy, we could really feel the love????. Cheers to an inclusive society where we all have the same right to love."
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