List of notable Indian LGBT rights activists (Updated December 2017)

Manabi Bandyopadhyay
India's first openly transgender college principal and first transgender person to hold a PhD

Grace Banu
Dalit activist

Vinay Chandran
Gay and human rights activist

Bobby Darling
Transsexual actress

Tista Das
Transsexual activist

Sushant Divgikar
Mr. India Gay 2014

Pablo Ganguli
Cultural entrepreneur, artist, director and impresario

Rituparno Ghosh
Popular film maker, winner of 11 Indian National Film Awards

Anjali Gopalan
Human rights activist

Andrew Harvey
Author, religious scholar and teacher of mystic traditions

Harish Iyer
Activist, columnist and blogger

Celina Jaitley
Miss India 2001

Firdaus Kanga
Writer and actor

Karpaga
First trans person in India to perform a leading role in a mainstream movie

Saleem Kidwai
Writer

Agniva Lahiri
Social activist (PLUS Kolkata)

Nolan Lewis
Mr. India Gay 2013
Leena Manimekalai
Poet, writer and film maker

Shabnam Mausi
First openly trans person to participate in Indian elections

Hoshang Merchant
Teacher, poet and critic

Ismail Merchant
Film producer and director

Raul Patil
Mr. India Gay 2011

Zoltan ParagMr. India Gay 2008

Onir
Award-winning film director

Sridhar RangayanFilm maker, and founder and festival director of Kasish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival

R. Raj RaoWriter, professor of literature
A. RevathiActor, artist, writer and theater activist

Wendell RodricksFashion designer and choreographer

Ashok Row KaviFounder of Humsafur Trust
Aishwarya Rutuparna PradhanFirst openly transgender civil servant, Odisha Financial Services officer
Nishit SaranFilmmaker and gay rights activist

Vikram SethWriter

Parvez SharmaWriter and documentary filmmaker

Gopi Shankar MaduraiGenderqueer activist, recipient of the Commonwealth Youth Worker Asia Finalist Award and founder of Srishti Madurai
Manvendra Singh GohilHereditary Prince of Rajpipla

Ramchandra SirasLinguist and author

Living Smile VidyaActor, artist, writer, and theater activist

Kalki SubramaniamTrans activist, actor, artist, writer and founder of Sahodari Foundation

Manil SuriIndian-American mathematician and writer

S. SwapnaFirst transwoman to clear Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission exam and first transgender I.A.S aspirant.

Laxmi Narayan TripathiTrans activist

Ruth VanitaWriter and academician

Rose VenkatesanFirst trans TV host in India

Riyad Vinci WadiaFilm maker

Simran Shaikh
Trans Activists, Noted for HIV / AIDS awareness on national level for Trans and MSM community.