In a new book, a queer activist examines the LGBTQIA+ community’s health and mental well-being

What if the HIV epidemic had not come about? Would sex and sexuality or issues of gender diversity have come out of the closet in India? Would they have become part of the public discourse and entered the domain of human rights in this country? Would the queer movements in India have had the same trajectory and arrived where they have?

These questions came up during a community dialogue that followed the performance of a skit called Koti Ki Atma at Café Adda Ghor in Kolkata in November 2023. The performance was a reenactment of a 20-minute, four-scene play created by NGO Integration Society and sibling queer support group Counsel Club in January 2001.3 The skit, a cross between proscenium and street theatre, used a ghost, humour and poignancy to encourage discussion on HIV prevention and testing, safer sex, self-esteem and empowerment among queer communities. At that time, non-normative genders and sexualities were still heavily stigmatised and criminalised, queer inclusion in the National AIDS Control Programme was tentative, and HIV treatment in the form of anti-retroviral therapy (ART) was at least three years away.

Between its scripting and eventual reenactment in 2023, the skit was performed only around half a dozen times, primarily at community events...

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