This is a timeline of notable events in the history of non-heterosexual conforming people of South Asian ancestry, who may identify as LGBTIQGNC (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer, third gender, gender nonconforming), men who have sex with men, or related culturally-specific identities such as Hijra, Aravani, Thirunangaigal, Khwajasara, Kothi, Thirunambigal, Jogappa, Jogatha, or Shiva Shakti. The recorded history traces back at least two millennia.

This timeline includes events both in South Asia and in the global South Asian diaspora, as the histories are deeply linked. South Asia includes the modern day nations of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma (Myanmar), India, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka; in some references, the South Asian subcontinent will also include Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Tibet. The South Asian diaspora includes, but is not limited to South Asian LGBTQ communities in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Caribbean Islands, Southeast Asia, and elsewhere.

Early history

400 BCE - 200 BCE Sculptures on temples and artwork from around 500 BC in Lanka depict liberal views on sexuality and homosexuality. Vatsyayana's The Kama Sutra devotes an entire chapter to homosexuality with explicit detailed instructions on how to perform homosexual acts.

3rd century BC to c. 4th century AD Tamil Sangam literature refers to relationships between two men and explores the lives of trans women in the Aravan cult in Koovagam village in Tamil Nadu.

~1529 Emperor Babur's memoirs, the Baburnama, include a recollection of a supposed homoerotic relationship with a teenage boy.

1530s The Fatawa-e-Alamgiri of the Mughal Empire mandated a common set of punishments for homosexuality, which could include 50 lashes for a slave, 100 for a free infidel, or death by stoning for a Muslim.

1750-1830 Emergence of Rekhti chapti-namahs, or female non-sexual homosocial narratives, in Urdu poetry.

1861 Anti-sodomy section of Offences against the Person Act 1861 imposed on entire British Empire, that says "Whosoever shall be convicted of the abominable Crime of Buggery, committed either with Mankind or with any Animal, shall be liable, at the Discretion of the Court, to be kept in Penal Servitude for Life or for any Term not less than Ten Years." This section is credited with giving birth to the controversial Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code.

1871 Hijras labeled a "criminal tribe" under the Criminal Tribes Act, 1871, meaning they could be arrested as criminals anywhere in British India. 1897 Criminal Tribes Act of 1871 amended, with the subtitle "An Act for the Registration of Criminal Tribes and Eunuchs", ordering that "criminal" eunuchs "dressed or ornamented like a woman in a public street… be arrested without warrant" and imprisoned. 1918 Earliest known records of South Asian MSM in North America, as Tara Singh and Jamil Singh are separately arrested for interracial sodomy in Sacramento, CA.

1922 Poems Written in Prison by Gopabandhu Das, a freedom fighter and Gandhian, is published. At least two poems address male friends and co-workers, and the author describes these relationships in terms that are intense and erotically charged though not overtly sexual. These poems are sometimes included in Odia language literature textbooks.

1924 "Chocolate", a short story in Hindi written by nationalist and social reformer Pandey Bechan Sharma (under the penname Ugra), is published in the nationalist newspaper Matvala. Ugra's crusade against male-to-male sex sparks debate in Hindi newspapers and magazines, resulting in perhaps the first public debate in Hindi on homosexuality.

1929 Mahatma Gandhi speaks out against same-sex relations in a Young India letter, in response to queries on "unnatural vices" in schools.

1936 Urdu poet Firaq Gorakhpuri writes an essay defending the Ghazal form of poetry that includes a defence of homosexuality, citing philosophers, poets and other renowned figures across the East and the West who were homosexual or had expressed homosexual desire in well-known works.

1942 Ismat Chugtai's short story "Lihaaf" is published. 1944 Ismat Chughtai faces obscenity trial for "Lihaaf". 1945 Ismat Chughtai publishes her semi-autobiographical Tehri Lakeer ("The Crooked Line"), an Urdu novel that does not shy away from sexuality and depiction of same-sex attraction.

1962 Rajendra Yadav, a leading Hindi novelist, publishes his story "Prateeksha" ("Waiting") that depicts a homosexual relation between two women without censure and in detail.

1968 Bhupen Khakhar, a successful painter and writer of Gujarati fiction, and one of the few who is openly homosexual, writes an untitled story depicting bisexuality in a quotidian, lower middle-class context.

1970s

~1970s Gay Scene journal published in Calcutta (only a few issues published)

1971 Badnam Basti released, often described as India's first gay film

1972 Indian poet Kamala Das serialized her semi-fictionalized autobiography My Story in 1972, creating a minor scandal. The autobiography revealed her extramarital heterosexual affairs and her adolescent crush on a female teacher and a brief lesbian encounter with an older student. It was first published as a book in Malayalam in 1973, followed by an edited English version in 1976.

1974 Malayalam novel Randu Penkuttikal ("Two Girls") by V. T. Nandakumar is published in India. The novel gives a positive picture of lesbian relationships in Kerala, and became very popular among young women.

1978 Noted math prodigy Shakuntala Devi publishes "The World of Homosexuals". The book is primarily a collection of interviews with homosexual men and advocates for societal acceptance of homosexuality.

1979 Begum Barve, a Marathi play written and directed by Satish Alekar, is performed for the first time by Theatre Academy, Pune, at Shriram Centre in New Delhi. Begum Barve, the central character, plays female parts and desires to live a woman's life. The story "A Double Life" by well known Rajasthani author Vijay Dan Detha is published, depicting a romantic-sexual relationship between two women "married" to each other in rural Rajasthan.

1980s Late 1970s / early 1980s Partner, a one-act play written by Dr. Anand Nadkarni, explores the relationship between two male hostel inmates in love, and the complications when one of them gets married Two college students in love, Mallika and Lalitatambika, attempt suicide. The Delhi Group formed; Red Rose Rendezvous Group started. Indian women in Delhi active in creating spaces, dialogue, or research: Giti, Kanchana, Gita, Abha, and Paola

1981 All-India Hijra Conference in Agra brings together over 50,000 hijras from across South Asia. "Mitrachi Goshta", a lesbian theme play in Marathi written by eminent playwright Vijay Tendulkar opens in Mumbai and Thane. The play portrays the inner conflict of a woman who realizes she is lesbian. It was well received, and ran for 26 shows. (15 August)

1982/1983/1984 Uma, a New Zealand lesbian of Indian descent interviewed in . Uma established the first Lesbian Line in Australia in the early 1980s, and later served on ILGA's World Board as the Regional Representative Oceania. Article in Spare Rib, a grassroots British feminist magazine, "...NO, WE NEVER GO OUT OF FASHION ... FOR EACH OTHER!" Interview with Audre Lorde, Dorothea, Jackie Kay and Uma. Vikram Seth writes in the poem "Dubious", which appears in his first collection Mappings, about bisexuality: "In the strict ranks of Gay and Straight / What is my status? / Stray? or Great?" HAC Asian Theatre tours On the Road to Nowhere with sketches and visuals on race, power, sexuality, gender non-conforming roles, being gay, to Asian audiences that cause a press storm and calls for censorship.

1984 Zami, first Canadian group formed for Black and West Indian gays and lesbians (Toronto).

1985 Anamika, a newsletter for South Asian lesbians and queer women publishes the first of its three issues, mailed free to women in South Asia. Films: My Beautiful Laundrette directed by Stephen Frears, based on a screenplay written by Hanif Kureishi, depicts an interracial relationship between two men. Books: "The Conversations of Cow" by Suniti Namjoshi (some references to first publication in 1984)

1986 First case of HIV reported in India, in Chennai. Trikon (later renamed Trikone) is formed by Arvind Kumar and Suvir, and print newsletter established First issue of Trikon newsletter, editors Arvind Kumar and Suvir (January) Ashok Row Kavi discusses his homosexuality in Savvy magazine (February) Hijra conference in Bhopal, India (April) Trikone marches in San Francisco Pride parade for the first time ever (June).Referred to in Sandip Roy's A Call For Rice, in A Part, Yet Apart: South Asians in America edited by Lavina Dhingra Shankar and Rajini Srikanth Trikone Los Angeles (later Satrang) formed (Nov) Trikone Chicago (later Sangat, and then reformed Trikone Chicago) formed by Ifti Nasim (Dec) Conditions: Thirteen publishes interview with Khayal and Utsa, "There Are, Always Have Been, Always Will Be Lesbians in India".Between the Lines Kanchana researches Hindu text for women loving women references. Films Pratibha Parmar releases Emergence, interviews with Four Black and Third World women artists that highlight common themes in identity and struggle Books Flesh and Paper by Suniti Namoshi and Gillian Eve Hanscombe

1987 Sneha Sangam gay group forms in Bangalore Society magazine in India prints a story about Trikone Khush, an organization that created safe spaces for South Asian gays and lesbians in Toronto was formed (July).Tom Warner, Never Going Back: A History of Queer Activism in Canada. Trikon becomes incorporated as Trikone (Nov) Bhopal policewomen Lila and Urmila marry with religious priest and get fired from police job (Dec)Naisargi N. Dave, Queer Activism in India: A Story in the Anthropology of Ethics. Village teachers Aruna Sombhai Jaisinghbhai Gohil, aged 31, and Sudha Amarsinh Mohansinh Ratanwadia, aged 29, entered maitri karar (friendship agreement) before a notary public in 1987 after nine years together London Borough of Ealing Race Equality Unit holds the first London South Asian LGBTQ poetry festival organised by Race Equality Campaigns Officer, Poulomi Desai with the bookshop, Bogle L'overture in defiance of Section 28 SAGALG set up by Shivananda Khan and Poulomi Desai which later becomes Shakti Books Between the Lines: An Anthology by Pacific/Asian lesbians of Santa Cruz, California includes Anu's chapter "Sexuality, Lesbianism, and South Asian Feminism"

1988 Shakti formed in London by Shivananda Khan, Poulomi Desai, Sunil Gupta, Atul Sarin, Manjit Rooprah, Savi Hensman, Pratibha Parmar - the first South Asian LGBT organisation in Europe (June)Shivananda Khan, "Culture, Sexualities, and Identities: Men Who Have Sex with Men in India", in Gerald Sullivan and Peter Ackson (eds), Gay and Lesbian Asia: Culture, Identity, and Community. Trikone (San Francisco), Khush (Toronto), Shakti (London) and Urvashi Vaid make the Illustrated Weekly of India. (September) First Shakti Bhangra disco in London organised by Shivananda Khan, Poulomi Desai with DJ Ritu. Seed funding given to Shakti by the Ealing Race Equality Unit. (Oct)

Gita Darji and Kishori Shah RIP

1989 Khush Kahayal, newsletter of Khush South Asian gay men of Toronto, is established. Shakti Khabar published in London. Dominic D'Souza arrested placed in solitary confinement in India because he is HIV+ (Feb)"My Friend...Dominic", published in Trikone Magazine summer of 2012; republished in the Nightchild Nexus blog.Ashok Row Kavi and Dinyar Godrej, "Bigots Take the Temple", New Internationalist Magazine, Issue 250, December 1993. Khush organizes Salaam Toronto! Festival (May) Urvashi Vaid becomes executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (July)