Social media platforms exploded with expressions of joy this week, a rarity in a country that increasingly wakes up to horror and acts of betrayal by those elected to power. Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code was finally struck down, a few hundred years after the Buggery Act of 1533 that inspired it came into being.

Hundreds of columns have since been written about the criminalisation of sexual activities, whether or not consensual sex between adults is unconstitutional, and how the right to privacy continues to be a fundamental right that was violated. There continue to be naysayers, of course, bigots among us who refuse to acknowledge the rights of others and believe the government should have a say on what we do in our bedrooms the way it has started to have a say on what we cook in our kitchens.

Think about how long it took for our LGBT countrymen to feel free, and how they were compelled to fight not just successive governments that refused to grant them equality, but colleagues, family and friends who chose to deny them that freedom as well. According to figures released by the Ministry of Home Affairs, approximately 600 people were arrested under Section 377 in 2014, linked to an increase in the blackmail of LGBT people, while 1,491 were arrested a year later. It was used to harass and intimidate homosexuals as well as sex workers, and these statistics don't include the thousands who lost their lives in a struggle to simply experience what the rest of us have long taken for granted.