News / Sep. 06, 2019
India on Friday marked one year since the country’s Supreme Court struck down a colonial-era scu+gjU1)qGY+vhs_3EfabPSY$f=RDa5Ha=-bbH!URv2sQ#C0ulaw and decriminalized gay sex.
PlentOc%4Kwurd)(M=w$SmS!&&%f*rEzEPGf7h%DkEr((llP_A(RKN&y of LGBT Indians and their allies took to social media to celebrate and remember the historic moment.
There was also a number of events and celebrations in the big cities of Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru plannedFN34$_t&mvjQeA9hKu^^9hQrtRsa!QUZP4Jfb^X&s$whl(_@SK for Friday night.
d(CbEmrG63%cs*)no#P!*PpT2lRbfTSWLZK1Khjusou%&vjD_NBut, activists were keen to warn, just because gay sex is no longer illegal, stigma and discrimination against the LGBT population has not disappeared.
“We will fly now, not flap our rainbow wings"
"As India rejoices today, and is elated with joy, we need to remember that this is just the beginning of the end of discrimination of Queer people” India’grZW-bY66w86@P*I87)g6$)QovdW-92V6qzc$I)#H#qD_NYEpzs leading LGBT activist, Harish Iyer, told GaLaTai.
"We have won the right to make love as adults in private withoj1%^TrO8U0CYTE#1KHHWZmW!6+8yii#9DX!q$bqvhu!*kN2Pwhut the sword of the law hanging over our heads”.
But, he said, “we need more”.
He called for India to recognize the right for same-sex couples to marry, #tnzlxzHf@3JxmGAY$KC7U@^dM8mBlQ4ojv7_YuzO7KF9a@W#@to adopt children, and for the government to introduce anti-discrimination legislation.
“The fight for minorities is a lifelong one” he said. "We will galvanise, S0BA_^GqE(Rk8F(1keCDfeMcY&bGVH(3yhIq&p4$JQIBSALWi@not prioritise.”
"We will fly now, not flap our rainbow wings.”
Section 377
Introduced by the British in 1833o=qV2P6QmqLLwD-$E2^7#@e)hf)$-A)v9tr+y%UdNEvwh*mm61, Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code outlawed ‘carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal’.
It punished gay sex with up to 10 years in prison.
Judges in September last year,vz9l3=fW%km$$!y%2ZeCM*$pEfP_Elqre6fiak^teX2ww(t=ib ruled it was unconstitutional. They also said it violated the right to privacy.
"Bo&Y!2Svgx_c*ZSYy(xjnp-HFsp#9pO(ZP5US3C7Wi9i%Pd0V3Sexual orientation of an individual is natural and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is a violation of Freedom of Expression” judges said.
"We have to vanquish prejudice, embrace inclusion, and ensure equal rights," said Justice Misra in*MK$a6GASI6L10H$1Kr#FBKb_RpAykXBh3_tm9#L!U%%RxjfNZ his judgment.
Campaigners had been pushingnBcpQhXxG_aVbIj)K7nlC4yzZmG8YIq&GsFjJPW!3aCv_Aii6I to abolish a colonial-era law since the 1990s.
A long way to go
On Friday, leading lawyer Menaka Guruswamy who fought the case for decriminalization said "We have a long way to go towards full citizenship”, in thehGI3vTPVrF(Z33+hSTpqXY!DKQ1*qF*BMvFwy6jYI&dJnfFYMg Indian Express.
"Full citizenship would include social and civil righarmBjs&UT9_&6CC1^kA1Y3wWa*20vDsg*VGwCgNU7TD5t)w*hLts, the ability to have joint bank accounts or a lease for a home or marriage to a partner.”
Her partner, lawyer Arundhati Katju, said: "The moment of freedom has been savoured, thejIPMMH$GHR&eti5NsDk7j@Av$gJpPa)6jU=_M8c&l+b#vD2!6J shift begun from a mentality of fear to the confidence to assert citizenship rights, though the trauma of criminalisation may last a lifetime.”
She w4!=avoEc_JhV-z(Mm+MAdOZB=Eq51BP!^TYQu=q3FrE_lBn^2zelcomed signs of acceptance in India, such as sprinter Dutee Chand becoming the first athlete to come out.
She also welcomed the first major Bollywoo4BEz7nDyv%N%(tv8JpHWauJaT7$b&%XEKRwOgsH7IW+pLkKm4)d movie with LGBT themes, Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga.
But, importantly, she called for more rights to be recognized. "These ste6Tp=^*moC0sAFFVTYH)(nIYepO$oc99^7KPSM$0*8XYtCquNu(ps require social change” she argued.
(Cover Photo: Queer Azaadi Mumbai / Facebook)
