New Delhi, April 5 -- On 11 December 2013, a two-member bench of the Supreme Court dealt a body blow to the fight for LGBTQ+ rights in India when they overturned a landmark 2009 judgement by the Delhi high court that had deemed Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code unconstitutional. It took another five years of protests, appeals and legal arguments for the community to get the apex court to read down this draconian law. As the judgement was being delivered, Justice Indu Malhotra, one member of the bench, made a statement in her concurring opinion that has been widely quoted and shared since.

"History owes an apology to the members of this community and their families, for the delay in providing redressal for the ignominy and ostracism th...