The year 2026 so far has been a ‘queer’ year altogether. On the heels of the post #MeToo and Covid years, 2026 continues with the divide between the genders increasing.
India is seeing a strong backlash from men who feel increasingly emasculated and left out. From dating issues to perceptions on family law and the much talked about male loneliness epidemic, the crisis is primarily blamed on women’s education and empowerment. The latter indeed results in women expressing agency.
The collapse of traditional structures, however, is leaving men increasingly helpless and rejected, which in turn has caused an increased risk to women’s safety and regressive tolerance of aggravated violence against women.
This is global, but more aggressive in countries with higher vulnerability. For example, social media posts last week showing a spouse separated from her husband being trashed by the husband in public, tonsured, and forced to drink urine, has over 200 comments from men supporting, rejoicing, and asking for higher violence against women to punish perceived or real ‘infidelity’.
Many Indian men (and women) cannot and will not separate subjective ethical and moral standards from legal offence. Violence against women has been a tool for ages, and now it’s ‘desperate measures for desperate times’ as divorce rates rise, crimes against men gain visibility, and autonomy challenges compromise.
Where does the third gender stand in such times? How tolerant is the nation — sans the literary and liberal elite — of alternate sexual and gender orientation (SOGI)? Literature often is a good hallmark of the same, but it can be deceptive. There are queer posts and pride month celebrations are aplenty, but is tolerance increasing, decreasing, or staying constant in the age of expression and awareness?
2026 saw an unprecedented economic influence on the tails of the 2025 backlash for the queer landscape — alongside a continued rise in legislative and cultural polarisation. India weathered the storm in 2025, both better and worse. Even though the third sex and gender transition rights didn’t get attacked (yet), the global winds did touch the SOGI communities, starting with DEI initiatives and funding.
2026 saw the passing of the protection of rights amendment Bill, taking away the right to self-identification. Queer literature, however, continues evolution without regression — showing resilience and stepping into stories which are more human than queer, making the community and its struggles mainstream.
As the pride month progresses, one year on from the publication of ‘Queer Chronicles’, my contribution to this space, it is beautiful and promising to see books like ‘Queer India Now’ and ‘HUM’ published nationally and internationally in 2026.
According to the founder of Yoda Press, Aprita Das, queer literature has now found the audience publishers had dreamed of in millennials and Gen Z. The underbelly and the undertone of the queer landscape in India, however, don’t show a picture too different from where women’s rights were in early 2000s. It is defined by a sharp contrast between highly visible and rising urban progress and a dark, mostly hidden web of systemic familial violence, healthcare exclusion, and deep-rooted stigma.
While some metropolitan centres have ever-growing queer scenes, everyday survival and basic rights remain a struggle for most LGBTQIA+ individuals. This, if anything, has arguably worsened despite the increased appetite for nuanced stories and voices. The activism has had to shift from property rights, conjugal and parental rights, and inclusive language to the right to exist and identify.
So what does it mean for contemporary India? The progress made on women’s safety and rights post Nirbhaya is having a moment.
Increasing demand for consent and agency has decreased means of control, and changing of gender roles although necessary and inevitable is difficult right now for both men and women to navigate.
Will queer rights follow a similar trajectory, or will the queer stories finding audience help bridge the gap within the cis hetero space? The LGBTQIA+ community doesn’t owe this to anyone. However, listening to Alok Vaid Menon (American writer, performer, and queer rights activist), who talks about the acceptance of his personal non-conforming dressing and expression in the context of acceptance of complexity, there’s an argument to be made. Accepting complexity — as in increased curiosity and tolerance of human existence in all forms and flavour — can serve the broader goal of acceptance of humanity and de-objectification of all members of the human race. That’d be a good thing for India, socially and economically.
— Based in the US, the writer is an author, activist, and founder of Her Rights Inc
