A Third of Gay Men Report Being Married to a Woman in India

Only 16% of the married men claimed that their wives are aware of their sexual orientation.

On September 6, India repealed Section 377, decriminilazing being LGBTQ. In a country that has a population of 1.3 billion people, that means that there are roughly 42 million LGBTQ people living in India. For refernece, there are more queer people living in India than the entire population of Canada.

There have been scant data since the repeal of Section 377, so Planet Romeo sought to remedy that, surveying 3,392 community members living in India. The results were interesting to say the least. In the end, I think the research ends up posing far more questions than answers. Nevertheless, here were some of the key takeaways.

- A third of gay/bi men are married to a woman

- Only 16% of the married men claimed that their wife is aware of their sexual orientation

- 72% of gay/bi men married to a woman have no intention of coming out

- 26% reported that the repeal will have a major impact on their life

- 28% of India’s youth want to be LGBT activists

- One respondent even said, “The repeal of 377 will empower me and helps me fight for my rights. It will protect me from blackmail and extortion. It will help to create a wave among the general population that being LGBT is normal.”

Head over to Planet Romeo to see the full results of the survey.