7 Indian LGBT icons you need to know: from YouTuber Lilly Singh, Olympian Dutee Chand and gay royal Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil, to transgender activist Laxmi Narayan Tripathi and film director Onir

Jun 6 , 2022

Dutee Chand, Lilly Singh, Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil and more Indian LGBT icons you should know about. Photos: @duteechand, @lilly, @jonrossatl/Instagram

LGBT activist Laxmi Narayan Tripathi played a key role in India’s decision to legally recognise the gender identity of transgender people in 2014

Novelist Vikram Seth and business tycoon Keshav Suri openly criticised the colonial-era anti-homosexual law Section 377, leading to it getting scrapped in 2018

Until 2018, homosexuality was illegal and punishable in India. Although the draconian law, which demanded up to life imprisonment for anyone committing sexual acts “against the order of nature”, was scrapped four years ago, a truly inclusive society remains a distant dream. The LGBTQ+ community still faces stigma, violence and legal difficulties. However, some of the country’s most famous personalities, from sports to the film industry and media to business, are trying to change the status quo.

Here are seven of India’s most famous icons who have become darlings of the LGBTQ+ community.

Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil

Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil is India’s first openly gay royal. An exceptional ambassador of the LGBTQ+ community, Gohil knew he was gay since he was 12, but had to stay in the closet for decades. By the time he came out at 41, Gohil had endured shock therapy, conversion therapy, forced marriage to a woman, and expulsion from his inheritance. His revelation about his sexuality triggered a nationwide scandal as homosexuality was illegal in India in 2006.

Manvendra Singh Gohil, Prince of Rajpipla, Gujarat and Duke DeAndre Richardson during the Hong Kong Pride Parade 2018, in Causeway Bay. Photo: Edward Wong

Though the backlash must have been traumatising and depressing, it did not stop him from living his true self and advocating for LGBTQ+ rights through his charity Lakshya Trust. In 2018, when India’s Supreme Court decriminalised homosexuality, Gohil opened up 15 acres of palace grounds to build a shelter for vulnerable gay and transgender people.

Today, he is fighting for issues like same-sex marriage, the right to inheritance, the right to adoption and a ban on conversion therapy.