It is still no-entry for queers in Indian judiciary

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Editor's note: In her initial years as an advocate in Nagpur, K got acquainted with a young female lawyer, whom we’ll call P. Like K, P identifies as bisexual. But unlike K, P has been open about it. “With time, I saw her sexual identity become bigger than her professional one,” K recalls. “Straight women looked at her as ‘I hope she doesn’t crush on me’; straight men would look at her in an oversexualized way.” K had spent a few years in New Delhi before she moved to Nagpur. Back in Delhi, she was open about her sexual identity. In Nagpur, she quickly noticed how the dominant faction of the Nagpur bar—old, cisgender, heterosexual men—treated others. “They didn’t spare the women too. You’d often overhear comments like ‘lipstick laga ke adjournment lene aa jati hai’ [she has her lipstick on while seeking an adjournment].” K, who now lives and works in Nagpur, has chosen to keep her sexual identity under wraps. “As women, we are already starting from the bottom,” she says. “I didn’t want to give people more ammunition.” Such …