For the past six years, Abhilasha and Deepshika had endured forced separation, marriages to men they did not desire, humiliation and constant taunts from their families. Their “marriage by media” was the result of love, fear that their families might kill them, and confusion as they — and their lawyer — mistakenly thought that same-sex marriage was legal in India. It isn’t. In September 2018, the Indian Supreme Court judgement overturned a colonial-era law banning gay sex. The court stopped short of legalising gay marriage but, as Abhilasha and Deepshika’s story reveals, people in love are forcing a national reckoning in pockets of India long considered too parochial, socially conservative, or outright dangerous to consider the possibility that two women may want to spend the rest of their lives together.
Continue reading at: https://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/in-rural-bundelkhand-a-lesbian-couple-tries-to-make-a-life_in_5c3c1289e4b0922a21d62164 (Source)
Listening to Lesbians 
I was really saddened by what the pair are having to face and inspired by their courage and clarity in the face of it all. Living costs in India are very low in dollar or Euro (etc) terms. I was wondering if we could possibly set up an online crowdfunding page to raise money for these women to live independently. I think the money could be quite easily raised. The main issue would be logistics and oversight: making sure that funds reached and benefitted them.
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