From closet to cause: Mr Gay Kerala’s journey of pride and purpose

It is a quiet revolution in Kerala, where conservatism hides in plain sight. Its face is not that of a firebrand protester or a political renegade. It is the composed, reflective face of Sinosh KP, a former Mr Gay Kerala, and a man who came out not with a shout but with the resolute calm of someone finally stepping into the light.

“I did not even know what sexual orientation meant growing up,” he says. Eight years ago, when he decided to come out, it wasn’t with fanfare. It was with awareness. And awareness, in a society that still wears progressivism like a borrowed shirt, comes with its own cost.

Kerala has long boasted of its social indices, of literacy and health and reformist roots. But even amid that self-regard, queer lives remain bracketed, their joys and sorrows footnoted. “Even the educated hesitate,” Sinosh says, recalling how a friend, after posting a photo with him on social media, was ridiculed by his own circle. “They said he too must be gay. That made him turn on me.” It wasn’t just a betrayal; it was a reminder — that LGBTQ identity, even when lived with grace, can provoke fear in others.

But Sinosh endured. Not with bitterness, but with a kind of gentle defiance. And in doing so, he has come to symbolise a generation of queer Indians who carry their truth not as a burden, but as a birthright.

From silence to spotlight
After studying journalism at the University of Calicut, Sinosh joined the National Health Mission in 2018 as a senior consultant in Thiruvananthapuram. He found that the state capital had a more cosmopolitan outlook than his hometown of Kannur. The city offered him not just employment, but visibility. It was there, in the capital’s humid air and crowded streets, that he met others like him — people whose identities had also lived in the shadows.

“It was only after coming to Thiruvananthapuram that I met openly queer people. That changed everything,” he said.

In the years that followed, Sinosh would become one of the key minds behind Idam, a pioneering Kerala government initiative aimed at creating LGBTQ-friendly spaces in healthcare. The campaign, built around the simple idea of dignity — of receiving medical care without judgment — marked a turning point in his activism. “Idam wasn’t mine alone,” he says modestly. “But I had proposed a campaign for queer-friendly hospitals and the final programme got built on that.”

It was an idea born not just of policy acumen, but of lived experience. To walk into a clinic and wonder whether you’ll be treated as a patient or as a puzzle. That is a uniquely queer anxiety. Idam sought to erase that doubt. For his contributions, Sinosh received the Change Maker Award and it was a recognition that, for once, did not ask him to hide who he was.

Becoming Mr Gay Kerala
The title came later — almost accidentally. It was 2018, at the Likho Literature Fest in Delhi, when he first learned about the Mr Gay World India competition. He met Rohan Pujari, a former finalist, who encouraged him to apply. “Back then, I was not ready,” Sinosh admits. “But something stayed with me.”

In March 2024, when the competition call reappeared in his queer group chat, it was his friend Bharathan who pushed him to apply. “He stood by me through it all,” Sinosh says. “For the photoshoots, the grooming sessions and everything, he was my anchor.” Sinosh says.

The event’s finale was held in Bengaluru, a city of possibilities. “At first, I felt like I did not belong. But no one made me feel that way. The only person who doubted me was myself,” he says. He returned not only as Mr Gay Kerala but with a quiet confidence that had once eluded him.

Today, he continues his work at the National Health Mission, and moonlights as a part-time fitness trainer. This is a personal passion that also became part of his transformation. “I used to flip through old photos and marvel at my own journey,” he says, smiling. “Now I want to try again. I am preparing for the 2026 Mr Gay World India title.”

The work, and the wounds
Years before he came out, Sinosh was already organising. “I created a group called Amor, a collective for lesbians and gay men,” he says.  He later joined Queerythm, a Kerala-based community organisation that has grown into a vital space of support and resistance. “People needing medical support or jobs or just a safe place to talk — we help however we can.”

But despite the progress, he remains clear-eyed about the challenges. “I don’t believe society will fully accept us anytime soon. I am not asking for celebration. Just do not make us afraid to post a photo with the people we love,” he says.

The fear, he notes, is generational. “Young people now, they know. They are online, connected, exposed to the world. But in my time, we did not even have the vocabulary. We could not name what we were feeling. If we had, maybe we would have left to queer-friendly countries. Instead, we stayed. And many of us lived double lives,” he says.

For those who still do, Sinosh offers not just solidarity, but a vision. A life where you do not have to explain yourself, where you can be queer and quiet, flamboyant and faithful, hurt and healing but still worthy of being seen. “There is a revolution,” he says. “And it is not loud. It is the sound of people daring to live,” he adds.