Now the law has changed, I wanted to know whether their lives had also altered course.įor Krishna, the answer is yes. At that time, section 377 of the Indian penal code made gay sex illegal, and strong social stigma drove gay men underground. I first met Kouda in 2008 when I was reporting on how discrimination puts gay men at greater risk of HIV in Andhra Pradesh (which has one of India's highest rates of the virus) for the Guardian's international development journalism competition.