afishcurry

Sad our parliamanetarians are busy slapping Bank managers threatening high court chief justice.. welcome to arrogance mode of COngress of yore ( emergency days era)

pallavpotter

I really dont get your whining.
lets keep sexuality and religion separate. every thing is supposed to be somehow related to 'beating down Muslims' in India, right?

Slickstar

What does muslims have to do with this??

simplyme

Do you actually read what you write. How in your wildest dream can this be used to beat the Muslim minorities. Or do you think this law would prevent the muslims from taking the law into their own hands

mYsTeRiOuS_gUy

Good for Indian guppies, i do cangratulate all Indians guppies. It will surely make their lives much easier. It's a step in the right direction, millions of gay Indians and lesbians were demanding this for years and now they will be able to live and enjoy their relationship peacefully.

Pareshan0

LOL

Relax ppl, concerning the fact that India follows the steps of US, Indians (non-muslims) deserved it.

hareem01

May be in few years time India'd be called "Mississippi of Asia".

saregamapa

"Where the mind is without fear, and the head is held high ..." begins a prayer the poet Rabindranath Tagore published in 1910, invoking the almighty to awaken India's collective consciousness into a "heaven of freedom."


With a radical decision last week, the Delhi High Court decriminalized consensual sex between homosexual adults and swept away a threat that hangs over every Indian who, in the privacy of his or her own bedroom, might engage in sexual activity "against the order of nature."


And by linking its ruling to each citizen's fundamental right to freedom and protection from discrimination, the court's verdict rose above the fray of the culture wars around the issue of sexuality in this predominantly orthodox and religiously conservative country.

Over the 149 years of its existence, the infamous (if rarely enforced) Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code has remained a psychological threat to India's sexual minorities. It has resulted in countless instances of misery and harassment, and spawned a thriving blackmail industry.
The psychology of fear that the law begat, by its mere existence, has been lifted with the court's ruling that it is unconstitutional. In that alone, a great wrong has been righted. For the millions of gays, lesbians and other sexual minorities in India--and with the country's population of 1.3 billion, we are talking many, many millions--to be able to hold their head high and be who they are, equal before the law, is both a huge psychological boost and an affirmation of their human dignity.

For urban, middle-class homosexuals, being gay in India is akin to being gay in the U.S. in the 1950s. The condition of homosexuals in small towns and rural India is far worse. Most gays in India remain in the closet for cultural and social reasons, irrespective of the law; many still feel that the Delhi court's ruling will not really impact their day-to-day lives as long as social stigmas remain.
I don't know the non-pejorative word for homosexual in Hindi, but "gandu"--the equivalent of bugger--and the word "homo" are routinely used colloquially as put downs and abuse. Many families have "the gay uncle" who "nobody talks about," a semi-visible personage in the family pantheon.

This "don't ask, don't tell" kind of blindness has only further emasculated the image of the gay person by making him invisible. It is not surprising that the law has remained untouched all these years after independence, undisturbed by any political will, cocooned by a culture that turned a blind eye.

A noisy debate is underway, and the media is revving up to cover a grand culture war. The religious groups have been vocal, but recent statements from an archbishop and a senior mullah have restricted themselves to morality and sin--underlining an appropriate separation between church and state. Predictably, they reiterate that homosexuality is a sin in the eyes of God, but also that every sin is not a crime. However, the media storm has brought a number of anti-gay prejudices and beliefs from ordinary people to the fore--revealing the warped images people have of what it means to be gay, fed largely by stereotypical Bollywood portrayals of them as effeminate objects of ridicule

Coupled with religious orthodoxy, the risk of a prejudiced majority bullying a minority out of its rights runs high when emotions and feelings are aroused from moral outrage. Gay activist groups, which have been at the forefront of the fight for repeal of the law, are being careful not to fall into the trap.
It is critical that they keep the framework of the debate where the court has pegged it--as an issue of fundamental rights--and thereby address our changing consciousness and society.

The real opportunity for the gay community in India now, after a favorable court ruling, is to concertedly address these social stigmas. It must also strive to make itself more visible--not in any stereotypical way, but presenting itself to the public eye as it is, or rather, as it emerges.


As more people come out of the closet, if only to strengthen the teeth of the court's ruling by standing up and being counted, we also will be acknowledging a reality we have always known. Deep-rooted cultural prejudices do take time to transform, but in this increasingly networked world, ideas--and the dreams they inspire--can move across countries, castes and creeds.


Let us not forget that 60% of India's population is under the age of 25. The decriminalization of homosexuality is going to impact them as they come of age, develop their increasingly individualistic identities and make choices about how they wish to live. This newly empowered generation of citizens is concerned with securing economic prosperity by engaging with each other, and the rest of the world, in a culture of tolerance and respect.

Is this heaven? Far from it. But India, surely, has taken a giant step away from hell.


Roy Sinai is a photographer. He lives in Bangalore, India.



Gay In India - Forbes.com

Raj_ind

Gays have always been there in every society. And court had to make it legal because they were convinced by the argument that gays are born naturally gays and they have no control over it. What seems unnatural to others is natural for them.

And there is nothing wrong in allowing gays to participate in warfare. In the past too gays have proved themselves to be great warriors. Sample Mehmood Gaznavi, how brave he was? Still he enjoys an iconic status in a whole Nation.

Peace.

saregamapa

Alexander, Napolean were BI

saregamapa

Yoga guru Baba Ramdev will approach the Supreme Court on Wednesday to challenge the Delhi High Court judgment legalising gay sex among consenting adults. The petition is likely to be filed on Wednesday, lawyers associated with Ramdev said.


Ramdev, quoting Spanish psychiatrist Enrique Rojas, contended that homosexuality is a disease that is curable. "It can be treated like any other congenital defect. Such tendencies can be treated by yoga, pranayam and other meditation techniques," he said in the petition.

The high court, in a landmark verdict, legalised gay sex among consenting adults, which was earlier an offence under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. The verdict had retained the penal provision for non consenting gay and homosexual acts involving minors.


Ramdev, in his petition, contended that legislative mandate under section 377 of IPC did not infringe the right to privacy of persons indulging in homosexual activities, as held by the high court.


He maintained that Section 377 is not violative of the right to dignity of an individual and reduction in purview in the penal provision would aid in promoting homosexual activities which are primarily responsible for the spread of HIV.


Lawyers Suresh Sharma and Gandharva Makker said the petition challenging the high court verdict was to be filed on Tuesday but was delayed due to 'unavoidable circumstances'.


They said the yoga guru has challenged the July 2 judgment contending that homosexual activities are not only against public morality, public health and healthy environment but also against the interest of the society.

"The decision of the high court, if allowed to sustain, will have catastrophic effects on the moral fabric of society and will jeopardise the institution of marriage itself. This offends the structure of the Indian value system, Indian culture and traditions, as derived from religious scriptures," it said.

krisent

bromance brother-s

lakkis25

i'm an indian and not a gay, but the way she mentioned makes me laugh too, i eagerly open when it says good news , but after that couldn't control my laugh

anyway i live in usa, doesn't bother me what indian law are

afishcurry

Apparently even Mahmud Ghaznavi was gay.. what is with these war-mongers and gay tendencies Alexander too was gay. I guess when you are on the road wielding swords you can;t carry around your harem so you have to make do with what you have got and in course of time you inculcate a liking for it..

BTW it's not me saying it's acolumnsit in dawn saying that Ghazanavi perhaps was gay..
DAWN.COM | Columnists | Gay but not quite happy

In older Urdu and Persian poetry, was there any dearth of examples of men pining for their beloved who were often of their own gender? Allama Iqbal’s celebration of the beauty of Ayaz, the handsome slave of Mahmud Ghaznavi is only matched by Mir Taqi Mir’s highly brazen confession of his obsession for the son of a perfumer:
Mir kya saade hai’n beemaar hue jiske sabab
Usee attaar ke launday se davaa lete hai’

bebo

Kudos to Indian court for breaking the cultural taboo associated with homosexuality. Good job!

saregamapa

Did Homosexuality exist in ancient India? | Devdutt

afishcurry

Apparently as per Baburnama even Babur was unabashedly gay..

afishcurry

See the Selfish gene theory says everyone wants to perpetuate their kind and homosexuals by their very sexual persuasion are doomed to go extinct.. That explains why homosexual gene is not that prevalent.. Every now and then some abrupt mutation keeps giving rise to this particualr gene but it again disappears due to its inherent suicidal nature..

It's a fact though that even in animal kingdom we have gay so it's more about nature than nurture..

My request to maulans from all sides of religious divide is please let them live the way they want

pallavpotter

The whole of the Mughals had 'male harems' too, with young boys filled in them. guess, the central Asian genes did travel with them, down the generations.
but that makes them Bi, not gay.

saregamapa

There's been a sure rise in the bicurious population (in India's main metros, for sure).

Are you bicurious?

Are you bicurious | Sedusa and Madonis | Seducation | iDiaries