Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in India are afforded greater protections than those in many other Asian countries. However, Indian LGBT citizens may still face social and legal difficulties not experienced by non-LGBT people.
There are no legal restrictions against gay sex or gay expression. Same-sex couples have equal cohabitation rights, colloquially known as live-in relationships. However, India does not currently recognise same-sex marriage.
The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 recognizes the right to self-perceived gender identity and identification as male or female can be issued once a certificate is provided by a relevant medical official. Transgender citizens have a constitutional right to register themselves under a third gender.
Additionally, some states protect hijras, a traditional third gender population in South Asia through housing programmes, and offer welfare benefits, pension schemes, free operations in government hospitals as well as other programmes designed to assist them. There are approximately transgender people in India as per Census 2011.
Amidst strong political movements in favour of LGBT rights, people are more accepting of same-sex relationships, with around three out of four Indians supporting them according to an opinion poll. In the 2010s, LGBT people in India increasingly gained tolerance and acceptance, especially in large cities.
History
Hindu scriptures
Hinduism acknowledges a third gender. There are certain characters in the Mahabharata who, according to some versions of the epic, change genders, such as Shikhandi, who is sometimes said to be born as a female but identifies as male and eventually marries a woman. Bahuchara Mata is the goddess of fertility, worshipped by hijras as their patroness.
The Nāradasmṛti and the Sushruta Samhita, two important Sanskrit texts relating to dharma and medicine, respectively, declare homosexuality to be unchangeable and forbid homosexuals from marrying a partner of the opposite sex. The Nāradasmṛti lists fourteen types of panda (men who are impotent with women); among these are the mukhebhaga (men who have oral sex with other men), the sevyaka (men who are sexually enjoyed by other men) and the irshyaka (the voyeur who watches other men engaging in sex). The Kama Sutra, a Sanskrit text on human sexual behavior, uses the term tritiya-prakriti to define men with homosexual desires and describes their practices in great detail. Likewise, the Kama Sutra describes lesbians (svairini, who engage in aggressive lovemaking with other women), bisexuals (referred to as kami or paksha), transgender and intersex people. The Sushruta Samhita and the Charaka Samhita delve further into the issue of homosexuality, stating that homosexuals are conceived when the father's semen is scanty and transgender people are conceived when the father and mother reverse roles during intercourse (purushayita, "woman on top").
However, in another Hindu text, the Manusmriti, there are various punishments for homosexuality in certain cases, along with sex for straight couples. A mature woman having sex with a maiden girl was punished by having her head shaved or two of her fingers cut off, and she was also made to ride on a donkey. In the case of homosexual males, the Manusmriti dictated that sexual union between two people (both homosexual and heterosexual) in a bullock cart would result in loss of caste and humanity.
The Hindu Khajuraho temples, famous for their erotic sculptures, contain several depictions of homosexual activity. Historians have long argued that pre-colonial Indian society did not criminalise same-sex relationships, nor did it view such relations as immoral or sinful. Hinduism has traditionally portrayed homosexuality as natural and joyful, though some texts do contain injunctions against homosexuality namely among priests.
Mughal empire
During the Mughal Empire, a number of the pre-existing Delhi Sultanate laws were combined into the Fatawa-e-Alamgiri, mandating several types of punishments for homosexuality. These could include 50 lashes for a slave, 100 for a free infidel, or death by stoning for a Muslim.