For a long time, the world learned to label identities, people existed outside rigid structures.
They loved, lived, dressed, worshipped, and made themselves in ways that did not always fit into what we now call “male” or “female,” “straight” or “gay.”
As of today, queerness is often seen through the spectacle as something new age— a Western rebellion, or a foreign influence. This narrative is not only wrong; it is also colonial.
When we start to talk about history and decolonize history, we look through a quieter truth: queer identities existed long before colonization arrived with its laws, binaries, and moral hierarchies. They were not hidden — they were often respected, and spiritually significant within their communities where they belonged.
To talk about queer identity, then, is not just to talk about something new. It is to talk about something that seems to have a legacy.
The narratives of colonialism worked to reinvent Australia in colonialism’s image, leaving us with legacies and frameworks that continue to shape who we are and how we identify to the world around us. Sometimes we try to ‘forget’ colonialism, but it constantly claims us and returns to us; we continue to live in its aftermath.
Colonial rule did more than reroute the borders — it refined belief systems. European empires brought with them very firm gender binaries, Christian moral codes, and legal systems that criminalized anything that fell outside heterosexual principles.
Across Africa, Asia, the Americas, and Indigenous societies, diverse gender expressions and same-sex relationships were systematically removed and condemned as “deviant.” Colonial laws like Section 377 in India and similar statutes across former colonies changed lived identities into crimes.
This historical shift too talks about why queerness is often misunderstood today as unnatural — when in truth, intolerance was the import.
Decolonizing queer history is not just about gaining back the past; it is more so about challenging who gets to define what true normalcy means. When queer identities are just seen as colonial disruptions, the real violence lies in not remembering that colonization itself made indigenous expressions of gender and love more disrupted.
Understanding queerness as historically touched and not culturally imposed — allows all marginalized communities to gain back their dignity, memory, and sense of belonging. It reclaims queerness not as negligence to tradition, but as part of tradition itself in the best way.
As of September 2018, the Supreme Court of India decriminalised homosexuality. After the judgment, there was an uproar insisting that India is adopting western ideologies and concepts of liberalism.
However, historians and mythology experts disagree. They believe that this judgment took India back to its roots, where love was celebrated and accepted in all its forms.
The Britishers proscribed consensual ‘homosexual conduct’ by introducing Section 377 in the Indian Penal Code in 1861. However, criminalising homosexuality reflected European morality based on religious beliefs (primarily Christian beliefs) more than Indian instincts.
Ancient India vindicated the presence of varied sexual orientations and the identity of transgender persons. Going by the religious texts and history, pre-colonial India seemed much more tolerant towards owning sexuality.
One of the primary arguments against homosexuality states that it defies Indian cultural values and morals, terming it unnatural. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the history of homosexuality in India and its presence in Indian values and culture. Thus, this article will dwell on the varied instances throughout ancient and medieval India to affirm that India before colonisation was not morally uptight.
It is essential to understand the history associated with an issue to formulate logical arguments. Understanding and acknowledging the history of homosexuality in Indian will endow a sense of identity upon the LGBTQIA+ community in India.
It will also help remove ignorance on behalf of Indian society, which assumes homosexuality and queerness to be a western interference.
A rich history of literature exists on homosexuality and gender fluidity.
Across different cultures, history offers clear evidence of pre-colonial queer presence: like int case of Hijras in South Asia who held spiritual and social roles before British criminalization came to place.
Two-Spirit identities among many Native American tribes where also recognized under gender fluidity as holy.
In parts of pre-colonial Africa, same-sex relationships and non-binary gender roles where so dominant that it existed within social structures before missionary influence.
Ancient texts, temple carvings, and oral traditions across India talk about the fluid desire and identity.
These examples show that queerness was not hidden — it was lived to the fullest.
What colonization removed is what, modern movements are trying to recall. Reclaiming queer histories is not about documenting something entirely new, but about making the past feel right. It challenges the perception that people have of queerness and makes us not to see it as a rebellion against culture, when it has always been part of what makes it our history.
Decolonizing history becomes an act of healing and restoring stories that were silenced and forced into utter shame.
Queer identity survived colonization.
Understanding this allows societies to withdraw from inherited prejudice and toward historical honesty.
To decolonize history is to listen carefully to what was removed in the first place. Queer identities are not new. They are ancient, and resilient.
When we gain these histories, we are not creating space — we are reopening it and that’s what truly matters.
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