ABSTRACT
This chapter illustrates the very rich traditions of non-heteronormative sexuality in India arising from Hindu and Muslim cultural influences. It traces the disavowal of same-sex desire—including the assertions that same-sex desire is a foreign import and the invisibility of same-sex practice is public health policy. The chapter discusses at length one of the relics of India's colonial past, Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which criminalizes "carnal intercourse against the order of nature", and its impact on the lives of those engaging in non-normative sexual activity. Indian HIV policy is based on the misguided assumption that most sex in India takes place within monogamous, heterosexual settings. The chapter also shows that both Mela Chiragan and Koothandavar Swamy festivals are part of South Asia's rich history of non-heteronormative sexuality—traditions that continue to prevail within the interstitial spaces of an otherwise rigidly heteronormative society.
