India’s journey on queer rights has been marked by striking contrasts. The Supreme Court may have decriminalised same-sex relations in 2018 and Parliament may have legislated protections for transgender persons, but the lived reality remains fraught with exclusion. Progress in law has not yet transformed society.

Families continue to abandon children, workplaces deny equal opportunity, and schools remain unsafe.

• A UNESCO report (2018) found that 60% of LGBTQ+ students in India face bullying in schools, and one-third eventually drop out.
• A National Human Rights Commission survey (2018) reported that 92% of transgender persons are excluded from formal employment, while more than half face harassment from police.
• A UNDP and Humsafar Trust study (2016) showed that 62% of LGBTQIA+ individuals report symptoms of depression, with 57% having contemplated suicide.

It is within this unfinished struggle that Nazariya must be located. Founded in 2014 by Rituparna Borah, Ritambhara Mehta, and Purnima Gupta, the collective has provided crisis support to over 500 survivors, shelter to dozens, and leadership opportunities to queer youth. More importantly, it has redefined care as political, turning poetry circles, fellowships, and storytelling into acts of resistance against erasure.

The implications are clear. Democracies cannot rest on judicial verdicts alone. Until homes, classrooms, and workplaces mirror the equality guaranteed in law, queer Indians will remain at the margins.

Nazariya’s work reminds us that survival is not the end goal; the true measure of justice lies in the freedom to live and love with dignity.