Currently, the major religions of India are Hinduism and Islam. While Christianity is not a predominant religion in India today, Western thought derived from the Judeo-Christian tradition has left its mark on India through colonialism.

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Under British rule in 1860, was outlawed in India, and it is still illegal today. Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code condemns those who engage in sodomy to imprisonment of up to ten years or life. In practice, however, punishments have tended to be less than this. Furthermore, the definition of sodomy provided by the code has been at issue, but was established in a 1982 case as any act of non-coital sex. The law has not been used to punish women engaging in lesbian sex, but has been used to threaten them. Activists in India are working for repeal of this law.

Modern Indian attitudes towards are, in many ways, a legacy of colonialism. There was never the same kind of organized, systematic persecution of homosexual behavior in pre-colonial India as there was in Medieval or Early-Modern Europe. Nevertheless, Indian societies have traditionally placed a strong emphasis on reproduction. Therefore, impotence, more than homoerotic behavior, has traditionally been a locus of shame for Indians.

Hijras

Hijras, sometimes described as "neither man nor woman," have existed in India for centuries, though they were called by other names in the remote past. Many are men with passive homoerotic sexual proclivities who are ritually castrated; others are intersexed or otherwise impotent persons. They generally wear women's clothing and typically live in small communes.

The hijras maintain a third-gender role that has become institutionalized by tradition within Hindu and even Indo-Islamic communities. With the increasing Westernization of India, the plight of hijras has become more difficult, and they are increasingly dependent on prostitution for their livelihood.

Persons

Non-castrated, male-to-female transgendered jhankas or zenanas also practice prostitution in India. They are not hijras, though some aspire to become part of hijra communities.

While the hijras have maintained a place in modern Indian society, female-to-male transgendered persons are less accepted in India today, although they appear to have had a more visible role in the past. In pre-colonial Indian regimes, cross-dressed women acted as bodyguards and porters for Indian royalty (both kings and queens).

Ancient Indian Sexuality

Ancient Indian mythology is replete with stories of both male and female sex change, dual goddesses who mate, and gods and goddesses who take on attributes perceived to be both male and female, such as the Shiva.

Ancient medical texts describe what Sweet and Zwilling translate as "masculine lesbian" females. Although they were pathologized, these women (like men with certain homoerotic sexual proclivities or impotence) were seen as essentially different. It was thought that either embryonic damage or the mother sitting on top of the father during sex caused their sexual and gender preferences.

The Kama Sutra (ca 3rd century C. E.) provides us with much of what we know about ancient Indian sexuality. The Kama Sutra 2.8 discusses "Virile Behavior in Women." Some of the sexual techniques described are quite graphic, including "the thunderbolt," "the wild boar's thrust," as well as "normal copulation." There is much scholarly dispute over whether this chapter refers entirely to women taking an active role in sex with men, or whether the latter section of it refers to sex between two women.

It is clear from another passage in the Kama Sutra (5.6.2), however, that gender-differentiated sex between women was socially accepted. Royal women are recorded in this passage as having homoerotic sex with their servants, whom they dressed as men, using fruits, vegetables, and dildos. A commentator on the Kama Sutra, Yashodhara (ca 12th century), indicates that women also had oral sex with each other in the privacy of quarters restricted to women (2.9.36).

Kama Sutra 2.9 also mentions a "third nature." It is widely agreed that some males who took on a third nature in the South Asian past dressed in women's clothing and performed oral sex. The text also refers to masseurs who performed oral sex on other men. Whether the third nature mentioned in the Sanskrit literature also refers to women is disputed.