Menaka Guruswamy takes oath in Rajya Sabha, becomes India's 1st openly queer MP

Senior Advocate Menaka Guruswamy took oath as TMC representative on Monday (Apr 6), she became the country’s first openly queer Member of Parliament. She is a renowned constitutional law expert, who was instrumental in India’s landmark 2018 Supreme Court judgment that decriminalised homosexuality. This judgment and her work in the Section 377 case transformed LGBTQIA+ rights in the country. And now as she enters active politics, there is hope that she will rightfully represent queer voices in the parliament and in governance.

Her work is recognised and she is a highly distinguished lawyer. In 2019, her name was also mentioned among Time magazine’s 100 most influential. She took oath: "I, Menaka Guruswamy, having been elected a member of the Council of States do swear in the name of God that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India as by law established, that I will uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India and that I will faithfully discharge the duty upon which I am about to enter."

She was among the 19 newly elected and re-elected members from 10 states, which included representatives from Maharashtra, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Odisha.

List of those who took oath on April 6:

Tamil Nadu

• Christopher Manickam
• Anbumani Ramadoss
• Constandine Ravindran
• LK Sudhish
• M Thambidurai
• Tiruchi Siva

Maharashtra

• Sharad Pawar
• Ramdas Athawale
• Maya Chintaman Ivnate
• Ramrao Sakharam Wadkute
• Jyoti Nagnath Waghmare

West Bengal

• Menaka Guruswamy
• Babul Supriyo
• Rajeev Kumar
• Rukmini Mallik
• Biswajit Sinha

Odisha

• Santrupt Mishra
• Dilip Kumar Ray
• Manmohan Samal