ZCZC
BFF-34
INDIA-COURT-RIGHTS-HOMOSEXUALITY-WRAP
Landmark India ruling ends gay sex ban
NEW DELHI, Sept 6, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – India’s Supreme Court on Thursday
struck down a ban on gay sex after a decades-old campaign against a colonial-
era law used to hold back LGBT rights.
Members of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender groups held tearful
celebrations in cities across the South Asian nation of 1.25 billion people
as the historic verdict was read out.
“The law had become a weapon for harassment for the LGBT community,” said
chief justice Dipak Misra as he quashed the cornerstone of Section 377, a law
introduced by British rulers in 1861.
“Any discrimination on the basis of sexuality amounts to a violation of
fundamental rights,” he added in the ruling, which added India to a list of
more than 120 countries where homosexuality is decriminalised.
While India’s law only legalises sexual acts between adults, gay activists
have hailed the verdict as a major boost in the deeply conservative country
where religious groups have fiercely opposed any liberalisation of sexual
morality.
Activists had been fighting the ban since the 1990s, suffering several
court reverses before Thursday’s verdict.
The Delhi High Court decriminalised gay sex in 2009, but the Supreme Court
reinstated the ban in 2014 after an appeal by religious leaders.
According to official data, 2,187 cases under Section 377 were registered
in 2016 under the category of “unnatural offences”. Seven people were
convicted and 16 acquitted.
“It was a law that propagated homophobia,” said Keshav Suri, one of the
petitioners against Section 377, who organised a dance show at his family’s
luxury Delhi hotel to celebrate the court victory.
“In rural areas it is a harassment tool, used by cops, used by authorities
for extortion for glorifying rape and molestation,” Suri told AFP in an
interview ahead of the verdict.
MORE/MR/ 1450 hrs
ZCZC
BFF-35
INDIA-COURT-RIGHTS-HOMOSEXUALITY-WRAP-TWO-LAST
Many Indian gay professionals have moved to Canada and Europe where they
are more accepted, added the businessman who married his partner in Paris
this year.
India’s conservative government had opposed ending Section 377 but said
ahead of the hearing that it would leave the decision to the “wisdom” of the
Supreme Court.
It had warned, however, that judges should not change other aspects of
Indian law, such as the right to marriage.
– ‘Long battle’ –
Members of the LGBT community hugged each other and cried outside the
Supreme Court in New Delhi as news of the verdict spread.
“I am speechless! It’s taken a long time to come but finally I can say I
am free and I have equal rights as others,” said Rama Vij, a college student
in Kolkata who gathered with others watching on television.
Despite the pressure on the LGBT community, India has quietly made some
strides in sexual rights in recent years.
A transgender judge, Joyita Mondal Mahi, presides over courts in West
Bengal state, Indian passports now state whether a holder is “male”, “female”
or “other”, and the city of Raigarh, with 139,000 people, has a transgender
mayor.
Suri’s hotels are known for their gay-friendly discos and more
professionals are coming out to challenge the Indian establishment.
Many say that gay marriage and equal rights in inheritance and other areas
must be the ultimate prize, but they acknowledge that change will not be
swift.
“This is the first step of the history of a lot of other countries that
first decriminalised gay sex, allowed civil unions and then marriage,” said
Suri.
“It is a long battle to equal rights but I am sure we will get there
eventually.”
New Delhi choreographer Mandeep Raikhy, who has used the performances of
his dance troupe to highlight the experience of gays, was even more cautious.
“I don’t want to sound pessimistic but I don’t think we will see gay
marriage in my lifetime,” he said.
BSS/AFP/MR/ 1450 hrs