LGBTQ community in India joins citizenship law protests

More than 1,000 people who are part of India’s LGBTQ community and its supporters reportedly marched on Friday against a new citizenship law that favors non-Muslims. 

The demonstrators, who called themselves, “Citizens Against Bigots,” accused the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi of forcing people to prove citizenship and endangering marginalized communities, according to The Associated Press.

The new law, which has sparked a number of protests, allows Hindus, Christians and others who are in India illegally to become citizens if they can show they faced religious persecution in Bangladesh, Pakistan or Afghanistan. Muslims are not included in the law. 

At least 23 people have been killed in clashes with security forces during demonstrations since the law was approved last month, according to the AP. 

Amid the protests, Modi has said that the law is not discriminatory. 

“The law does not impact 1.3 billion Indians, and I must assure Muslim citizens of India that this law will not change anything for them,” he said last month. “We have never asked anyone if they go to a temple or a mosque when it comes to implementing welfare schemes.”