In a country where a woman is raped every hour and 80% of illegally aborted fetuses are female, being lesbian means being doubly discriminated - first because of one’s gender and then because of one’s sexuality. For large sections of society, there is no such thing as lesbian.

A deeply patriarchal society apart, decades of porn has added to the warped perception of lesbians. The average age Indian boys have their first encounter with porn is 12. With mobile data rates among the world’s lowest, porn consumption rose by 75% in 2017 alone. Today, India ranks No. 3 globally, in terms of viewership on Pornhub. And the top search is ‘lesbian.’ (Source: Pornhub Insights)

Further proof of the over-sexualized perception of lesbians and lesbian relationships is revealed by a basic Google image search, which shows up smooching, petting, kissing...

Turning to the judicial system isn’t an option because homosexuality is a criminal offence under the Indian Judicial System. Section 377, a 160 year-old law introduced during the British rule of India criminalising homosexuality, is still in force. While 2017 marked 50 years of the law being abolished in UK, India is one of the few nations where it still stands.

The Twitter profile of a proud lesbian (@AditiMPride) was created. She opened herself up on Sarahah, a platform that allows anonymous interactions. Within minutes, she was bombarded with sexual questions and homophobia. With questions and comments like…

‘How do you do it?’

‘You’re cheap and dirty!’

‘Can I join you two?’

‘Do you use your fingers?’

While these questions were predictable, it was her responses that caught everyone’s attention. Of the hundreds of offensive questions, homophobic comments and hateful statements, the thirty most common ones were addressed, with uncanny wit and heart-warming pictures. All in real-time. Each breaking the stereotype of who a lesbian is. The pictures were shot by a celebrated Indian photographer, who was herself lesbian.

Considering the sensitivity of the topic from an Indian perspective, we aligned with community members throughout the campaign.

Besides social media, the pictures also showcased on LforLove.in, the campaign’s official website.

#LforLove was activated on two social media platforms.

We launched on Sarahah - a popular social networking service enabling anonymous interactions. This allowed our audience to pose questions and comments to an out-loud-and-proud lesbian, without inhibitions and the embarrassment of being identified.

As expected, within minutes, sexual questions and homophobic comments flooded the Sarahah timeline.

Twitter is where we posted our answers. We chose Twitter because of its power to trigger a conversation and attract the attention of those with the means to enforce change, in the shortest possible time. What’s more, we wanted to make it topical and real-time. Twitter allowed us to do that as well.

So as the questions came in on Sarahah, we picked the 30 most popular ones and answered them on Twitter, in real-time. The heart-warming pictures and witty answers, caught on fast and pretty soon the world was talking about it.

In less than an hour, lesbian relationships were a national trending conversation. Positive sentiment for the lesbian community saw a rise of 83% compared to 14% before the campaign. Negative sentiment dropped from 86% to 17%.

#LforLove attracted worldwide attention, from 51 countries.

Business Impact:

• Love Matters has received requests from Donors and LGBTQ organizations in 19 countries to replicate the campaign.

• It has also received fresh funding of USD 200,000 specifically towards LGBTQ initiatives, post the campaign.

• Several image libraries, including Getty - the world’s go-to site for stock imagery, are in the process of including the pictures as part of their offering.

Long-term Impact:

• Searches for lesbian marriages in India increased by 1450% following the campaign (Source: Google Trends®)

• Within weeks of the groundswell #LforLove created, India’s Supreme Court admitted pleas to repeal Section 377, a 160 year old law criminalising homosexuality.

Exceptionally low mobile data rates have given our audience, urban Indian males, aged between 17 - 25, easy and intimate access to porn. Though the Government has blocked over 3500 porn websites, 40% of all content downloaded every day from India is pornography.

With little access to controlled or formal sexual education, porn is the basis on which our audience has formed their opinion about who a lesbian is. As things stand, she is a source of sexual fantasy and an object of fascination.

Knowing he had lots to ask but would never do it openly, we invited interactions on Sarahah. This cloak of anonymity ensured a flood of questions and comments. It also gave us the opportunity to answer them in ways that would trigger a larger conversation. Which is why we chose a mainstream platform - Twitter, to post our answers. All conversations were directed here under #LforLove.

Love Matters India is a platform fighting for sexual rights and gender equality. The organisation has been putting women and their struggles in the spotlight. Their mission - to contribute to a world where women in restrictive settings can claim their rights and assume their equal place in society.

In 2017, Love Matters conducted an in-depth research on homosexuality in India. The results were alarming.

3 out of 4 find it hard to admit being lesbian where they currently reside. Primarily because of rejection from family and friends that arises out of homophobia and the perception of lesbians being portrayed as objects of sexual fantasy.

Last year, lesbian relationships received less than 2% representation across media. Much of it had to do with questioning their place in a ‘decent’ society.

The urgent need to correct these abysmal numbers inspired the following brief…

Tackle the overtly sexual representation of lesbians and homophobia by normalising lesbian relationships. Thereby creating positive narratives that help build understanding and acceptance of the community at large.