The victory against the homophobic elements of Section 377 in India is an important one for the LGBTQIA community the world over. Here in Australia, the sense of relief and jubilation resonates with our own recent experience in December 2017, when a ban on same-sex marriage was finally overturned.

Too often, the Australian discourse on LGBTQIA rights in the so-called ‘developing’ world is tinged with ideas of Western superiority. Of course, the very fact that India’s Section 377 has its origins in British colonialism – drafted by Lord Macaulay in 1837 and legislated in 1860 – ought to give a pause to those buying into this narrative. Like one activist told the BBC, the ruling striking down parts of 377 feels like part of ‘a second freedom struggle’.

There’s certainly a strong case that homophobia was largely a Western invention. Though Australia was once a British colony too, we cannot blame them for our anti-homosexual laws: the first national ones were drafted by Australian rulers upon Australian Federation in 1901, and the most recent of them have only recently been repealed. Tasmania decriminalised homosexuality in 1996, becoming the last Australian state or territory to do so.

But more than just recognising the Western roots of homophobia, we can recognise, too, the commonalities in our campaigns for justice and equality, now and into the future.

Here in Australia, throughout September to November 2017, the legitimacy of LGBTQIA lives was up for debate. The conservative government refused to simply remove a 2004 ban on same-sex marriage despite widespread public support for it. Instead, it pushed for a national postal survey on the issue, asking the entire voting population to say Yes or No to equal marriage.

Not only did this turn minority rights into a plaything of majoritarian opinion (a situation surely familiar in the Indian context), it gave the homophobic right-wing of the conservatives, and some church organisations, a nationwide megaphone for their views in the form of a ‘No’ campaign.

Rodney Croome, a long-time Australian LGBTQIA activist, described the postal survey as “a Pandora’s box of hate and loathing”. LGBTQIA support services reported increasing numbers accessing their services, as the equality ‘debate’ found its way to our family dinner tables, workplaces and social circles, and reopened past traumas for many LGBTQIA people.

The No campaign, knowing they would lose out on the question of marriage, took the opportunity to try to ‘future proof’ against possible extensions of LGBTQIA rights after marriage, particularly those concerning teaching about LGBTQIA people in schools, or extending rights to transgender people.

In the face of this, we saw the biggest rallies for equal marriage in Australian history. Even the National Football League (NFL), in a big snub for the conservatives, declared its support for equal marriage.

After a resounding 61.6% voted in support of equal marriage, the parliament finally did its job and passed equal marriage legislation. The 13 years it took to get there, from 2004 to 2018, mirrors the 27-year battle in India to repeal Section 377.

Now, we all have a fight in our hands to extend the rights we have won and protect the most vulnerable in our community.

Just this week, Australia's new conservative Prime Minister Scott Morrison tweeted against the so-called ‘gender whisperers’ in schools – his name for teachers helping LGBTQIA students to come out. A vocal opponent of gay marriage himself, he is seeking to stoke panic about any curriculum in schooling that recognises LGBTQIA relationships as valid and healthy. A programme called Safe Schools had its funding taken away by the conservatives in 2017. And, in another parallel, as the next national election approaches, we face the danger of a desperate government looking around for opportunities to divide and rule.

Both in India and Australia, there is much more to be won for true LGBTQIA equality to be achieved. Building on the momentum of the court victory, Indian activists will now face the question of how to take the next steps in their fight for equality. As some have already noted, there remains the crucial task of winning anti-discrimination laws in India that can help LGBTQIA people fight against daily injustices, such as the struggle to obtain housing and employment in the face of homophobia.

Legal reforms – such as equal marriage in Australia and abolition of Section 377 in India – are only the beginning of the battle. As the path-breaking Stonewall rioters declared in 1969, it’s time to get ‘out of the closets and into the streets’.

Amy Thomas is a lecturer, PhD candidate and 2018 community research fellow at the University of Technology Sydney. She has been active in the union movement and the LGBTIQ movement for many years. She is a former editor of the Solidarity magazine.

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