‘It was lonely,” recalls Krishna Omkar of growing up gay in Delhi, India. He grappled privately with his identity, feeling certain he was the only one enduring such inner turmoil. “The Victorian culture created there in the 1800s eroded a lot of the multiplicity and acceptance inherent in Indian culture,” Omkar comments, shedding light on the impact of colonial-era laws on India’s social norms.
Attending the University of Oxford years later marked a significant transition, but it was not without challenges. “I walked into this room, and I was pretty much the only non-white person there,” says Omkar as he describes his first experience at a freshers’ week event of the Oxford LGB Society (as it was then known), highlighting the complexities of race in addition to sexuality. “On the one hand, I thought I would finally be in a place where I wasn’t a minority because of my orientation, but actually I was again a minority because of my race and my ethnicity and my nationality.”
Today, Omkar is recognised as one of Britain’s most influential Indian-origin leaders in fields spanning law and business. His journey from an out-of-place student to a globetrotting lawyer and a staunch advocate for LGBTQ+ rights illustrates a trajectory of profound personal and professional growth. His pro bono involvement in the 2018 Indian Supreme Court case decriminalising same-sex relations stands out among his many achievements. Omkar elaborates, “My work in this case involved collaborating with lead counsel and producing a brief referred to in the Supreme Court’s judgement,” highlighting his pivotal role in challenging Section 377, a colonial-era law.
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