This book examines the sociopolitical lives of gender nonconforming people (GNCP) in India in the context of the transformations wrought by HIV and LGBTQ activism over the past three decades. It explores how GNCP assert their agency within a cis-heteronormative society and establish themselves as rights-bearing citizens against the backdrop of Section 377—India’s primary legal instrument criminalizing same-sex intimacy until its repeal in 2018. Drawing on thirty-seven in-depth interviews with outreach workers, activists, and community members, complemented by extensive ethnographic fieldwork, the study elucidates participants’ strategic engagement with identity categories, their contestation and redefinition of community boundaries, and their relationship to the law. This work makes a significant contribution to gender studies by revealing the complex negotiations of gender nonconformance at the intersection of stigma, biosurveillance, and social class within a rapidly evolving cultural milieu. It will appeal to scholars in gender and sexuality studies, sociology, and political science.
