The Indian Supreme Court in the Navtej Singh Johar vs Union of India judgement (6th September 2018), decriminalized homosexuality. However, the space cleared by the legal judgement cannot be immediately availed of by those affected by it because legally determined/defined space doesn’t necessarily become social space. This essay looks at the formation of this social space and the perception of homosexuality in civil society. It will examine the impediments of communication that homosexuals encounter in the heteronormative world, and the ensuing misunderstandings regarding homosexuality. It argues that a proper medium is necessary to provide communication in a social space that would then treat homosexuality as ‘normal’. I argue that Mahesh Dattani’s plays enable the imagination and the construction of such an accepting civil society.

中文翻译：

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同性恋与印度公民社会：在第 377 条非刑事化后阅读 Mahesh Dattani

印度最高法院在 Navtej Singh Johar 诉印度联盟案（2018 年 9 月 6 日）中将同性恋合法化。然而，法律判决清除的空间并不能立即被受其影响的人利用，因为法律确定/界定的空间并不一定会成为社会空间。本文着眼于这种社会空间的形成以及公民社会对同性恋的看法。它将研究同性恋者在异性恋世界中遇到的交流障碍，以及随之而来的对同性恋的误解。它认为，需要一种适当的媒介来在社会空间中提供交流，然后将同性恋视为“正常”。我认为 Mahesh Dattani 的戏剧使想象力和构建这样一个接受公民社会成为可能。