ABSTRACT
The issue of sexual identity has been dragged into the public debate on sex and sexuality partly as a result of AIDS, but also through the increasing visibility of gay men and lesbian women. The holding of gay and lesbian conferences and national retreats, publications by members of the gay and lesbian community, and the tentative, but significant engagement with this issue by academics from different disciplines is a new phenomenon. The controversy that exploded over the screening of Fire in India propelled the issue of homosexuality into the forefront of public debate.
