LGBTQ Liberation In USA And India: From Reluctance To Tolerance

Tejaswini Tripathy & Adyasa Mohanty

ABSTRACT

With the evolving dynamics of the world, major breakthroughs in technology, accommodation and abundance of resources, tolerance and empathy for obliging to varied choices, we, as global leaders have come a long way with our ever sculptured foresight and implausible vision of a better future. Recognition and acceptance of an individual, are regarded as of the major driving forces behind a dignified existence, and sans identity, the name per se results in mere redundancy. The novel ideas of individual autonomy and liberty, without any forms of negative distinctions constitute the epitome of substantial equality in any progressive democracy. The whole design of freedom of self-determination, more specifically inclined towards sexual orientation of an individual can not only be traced in international arenas, but explicitly could also be found in the Indian jurisdiction as well. With the progress of time, societies have come to associate identity within the structure a spectrum rather than the archaic and redundant binary system.

The paper intends to cover the historic downturn of the identities of these “beyond normative” groups to “homophobic” state of gender tolerance, with tracing down the oppression, consequences following the socio-political stigma and which triggered social movements around the globe in demand of liberation, legal status quo and a dignified recognition. The paper also intends to shed light upon the ground realities after the attainment of the sought after liberation through social, political and judicial perspectives, in doing so an attempt is also made to outline the factors that have stunted the

awareness for the masses.

Keywords: Liberation, Queer, Homosexuality, Identity, Privacy, Individual autonomy.