Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights in 

India have been evolving rapidly in recent years.

However, Indian LGBT citizens face social and legal difficulties not experienced by non-LGBT persons. There are
no legal restrictions against gay sex or gay expression. Gay couples can attain rights and benefits equal to
married couples as a live-in couples (anagolous to cohabitation) as per a supreme court judgement, which offers
unregistered cohabitation for same-sex couples on par with heterosexual couples.[4][5]
The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 recognizes the right to self-perceived gender identity
and identification as male or female can be issued once a certificate is provided by a relevant medical official.
[6]
 Transgender citizens have a constitutional right to register themselves under a third gender.[7] Additionally,
some states protect hijras, a traditional third gender population in South Asia through housing programmes, and
offer welfare benefits, pension schemes, free operations in government hospitals as well as other programmes
designed to assist them. There are approximately 480,000 transgender people in India as per Census 2011