Editorial

This issue on Policing Sex explores the wider context of the criminalization of homosexuality in India, as well as visions put forth to challenge heterosexism, the police state, and misogyny. 

In honor of our 20th anniversary, we wanted to share our perspectives on crafting this vibrant issue, which features poetry by Bushra Rehman, Purvi Shah, YaliniDream  and Ather Zia, along with a photo essay by Sabelo Narasimhan. Together, these pieces highlight the diversity of voices in the diaspora, ranging from Narasimhan’s visual documentation of protests against New York City’s Stop-and-Frisk policy to Rehman’s tongue-in-cheek take on break-ups.

On the third anniversary of the war in Iraq, our old anti-war strategies and their underlying assumptions need to be significantly reworked and become far more pre-emptive, comprehensive, and creative.

Many secular Mumbai residents were horrified by the ready rhetoric for war spread by the news channels. Sapna Shahani chronicles the efforts of two citizens of Mumbai to put out another perspective - of peace - one that proved to resonate with thousands of people.

Recently passed through the House, the HR 4437 Bill, the latest and most egregious anti-immigrant bill, will criminalize those that are and those that aid undocumented immigrants.

For the first time, the Indian state was conducting a thorough professional probe into a terror network involving Hindu extremist organisations. The implications of this investigation bring to question the death of the lead investigator of the Anti-Terrorism Squad, Chief Hemant Karkare, on the day of the Mumbai attacks.