History made: Menaka Guruswamy becomes India’s first openly queer MP

Senior advocate Menaka Guruswamy, took oath, along with eighteen other new and re-elected members of the Rajya Sabha, on Monday, 6 April. Guruswamy, picked by Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress, had created history by becoming India's first openly queer Member of Parliament (MP).

Babul Supriya Baral (TMC),Rajeev Kumar (TMC), and Rukmini Mallik (BJP) also took oath as Rajya Sabha MPs from West Bengal on Monday.

Among others sworn in today are five members from Maharashtra, including Ramdas Bandu Athawale, Maya Chintaman Ivnate, Sharadchandra Pawar, Ramrao Sakharam Wadkute and Jyoti Nagnath Waghmare.

Christopher Manickam, Anbumani Ramadoss, Constandine Ravindran, L K Sudhish, M Thambidurai and Tiruchi Siva are from Tamil Nadu. Three members, Santrupt Mishra, Dilip Kumar Ray and Manmohan Samal from Odisha, also took oath on Monday.

The oath was taken in the presence of Rajya Sabha Chairman C P Radhakrishnan. Deputy Chairman Harivansh and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju were present during the ceremony in the Rajya Sabha chamber.

Rijiju also extended his congratulations to the newly sworn-in members. He highlighted the significance of the occasion, noting that the oath-taking took place even though Parliament was not in session, and expressed hope that the new MPs would contribute meaningfully to the Rajya Sabha's functioning.

With the unopposed election, Guruswamy has become the country's first openly queer Member of Parliament. Guruswamy was TMC’s counsel in many cases, including one related to Enforcement Directorate raids on the office of I-PAC director Pratik Jain.

Guruswamy is a Rhodes Scholar from Oxford University (D.Phil) and a Gammon Fellow from Harvard Law School (LL.M). She was named as one of TIME's 100 Most Influential People in 2019, alongside her partner and fellow lawyer Arundhati Katju.

Guruswamy also served as a visiting faculty member at prestigious institutions, including Yale, Columbia, and NYU Law Schools. In 2019, Guruswamy, along with Arundhati Katju, was on the 100 most influential people in the world.

Guruswamy is the daughter of Mohan Guruswamy and Meera Guruswamy. Mohan Guruswamy is a former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) strategist and was a special advisor to former Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, who later quit the BJP.