One of India's most popular lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) websites and e-zines made a bold move on Friday by debuting what is reported to be the country's first mobile app for queer Indians.
Called Gaylaxy, the website and e-zine were initially launched in 2010 after the country's high court overturned a law that criminalized homosexuality.
“When Gaylaxy was launched, there was a dearth of quality LGBT websites or magazines that would cater to a wide variety of topics and provide a platform for members to express themselves," the Gaylaxy's Editor-in-Chief Sukhdeep Singh said on the magazine's website. "The response to the magazine was phenomenal and we soon had writers writing to us from not only across the country, but from different parts of the world too, notably U.S. and neighboring Pakistan.”
India made headlines in December 2013 when the country's legislators re-criminalized homosexuality through a colonial-era law making gay sex punishable by up to 10 years in prison. The ruling claimed that a 2009 decision to strike down that law was unconstitutional, as that it was not the place of courts, but rather the lawmakers, to decide.
The move sparked protests on a global scale, including a "Gay For A Day" initiative in which Facebook users posted photos of themselves kissing a member of the same sex in solidarity with LGBT Indians.
Gaylaxy can be downloaded from the Google Play store.