Whistling in the Dark traces the multilayered LGBT identity in India through a collection of interviews

Is the post-article-377 India a changed world? Of course, discrimination can hardly be wished away, but surely in the fever of Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) movement in India, many have found solace in acceptability? “You see, most urban Indian gay and lesbian people share a global identity. The repealing of article 377 by the Delhi High Court hasn’t changed our world. I, for one, was never a hapless victim of homophobia. I’m empowered enough to fight my own battles. It’s the fringe identities within the LGBT umbrella, like the hijras and the kotis, which are more vulnerable. I am not very sure if they feel safer or less exploited after the judgment,” says R Raj Rao a professor of English at the University of Pune, and also one of India’s leading gay-rights activists.

Rao, who was in the city last weekend to launch his latest book, Whistling in the Dark –Twenty One Queer Interviews (co-edited with Dibyajyoti Sarma), has dedicated almost a good decade of his life to understand the various queer identities in India. His earlier novel, The Boyfriend, has been acclaimed as a major “coming out” for gay India. In 1999 Rao, along with a student of his launched the Queer Studies Circle in Pune. “There are so many queer sex identities in India—kotis (effeminate men who usually are passive in the sex act) , hijras, men who have sex with men, etc. We wanted to find out how they viewed themselves. We encouraged them to talk,” says Rao.

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