BY SRISHTI MUKHERJEE ’21

This week has been an important one for Indians, both at Mount Holyoke and across the world, thanks to India’s legalization of gay sex. As India reels from the acts of intolerance performed in the name of religion, caste and gender within the country, the warm light of forbearance has embraced us at a time when we least expected it. On Sept. 6, the Supreme Court of India rolled back the colonial-era law Section 377 (a law that criminalized “unnatural” sex between men or women, which could lead to a maximum sentence of life in prison),  thereby allowing 18 percent of the world’s LGBTQ+ population a chance to reclaim their humanity.