The Time 100 most influential people of 2019 includes lawyers Arundhati Katju and Menaka Guruswamy, who were instrumental in the Supreme Court partly striking down Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code.

Actor Priyanka Chopra wrote for the magazine that Katju and Guruswamy became beacons of hope for the Indian LGBTQ+ community.

“Their perseverance and commitment led an entire community to a historic win by humanizing their struggles and giving them the freedom to love,” wrote Chopra.

Katju and Guruswamy were among the lead lawyers representing petitioners to have the ban on consensual gay sex struck down in the country.

They argued that sexuality and its expression are fundamental human experiences, and to enable discrimination on the basis of sexuality and its expression denies individuals their fundamental human rights.

“How strongly must we love knowing we are unconvicted felons under Section 377? My Lords, this is love that must be constitutionally recognised, and not just sexual acts,” Guruswamy had asked the Supreme Court bench, according to The Wire.