News / Sep. 06, 2019
India on Friday marked one year siI$1!8_3B6V-_#hShzPZgSIA@%9Cj)hhKg#-IA4hISgr3O$X6*ynce the country’s Supreme Court struck down a colonial-era law and decriminalized gay sex.
Plenty of LGBT Indians and trO0KXuO*g5eUja1J$K$SCxb2xZSiFo3j6VnUUe6A&BsUx-q%wSheir 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,%qy81gPl7jUW4TvL#BmZL7E(dLSCq#y+&9G%wp$S&$IxSw@1zN and Bengaluru planned for Friday night.
But, activists were keen to warn, just because gay sex is no longer illegal, stigma and discrimination ayE!rt-RxK=4iLldv%g+BowX%EvZy8hc+WFH(bhAC1Q4seWQ!B3gainst 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 beginlxkk0(BLp(-^aBHuHeybHwymKAiM$&&l5^hK=w=KR4aL(X0Ky*ning of the end of discrimination of Queer people” India’s leading LGBT activist, Harish Iyer, told GaLaTai.
"We have won the right to make love aso4BxrRome%)c7Tauoh(-ev0qU@n-ZjZ-%Cwz#kBzU=FFLYQ6%6 adults in private without the sword of the law hanging over our heads”.
But, he said, “we need more”.
He called for India!6n@XuS)Lnj@vPcQl)xqdMnR=K%QKDLkcGRQ%y2ys3uQcTxBSg to recognize the right for same-sex couples to marry, to adopt children, and for the government to introduce anti-discrimination legislation.
“The fight for minorities is a lifelong one” he said. "We will gaaUZJ(=PltEyrCQqMllD9JXBltPdwcnksw@nF20F3c+XIX)o_Nalvanise, not prioritise.”
"We will fly now, not flap our rainbow wings.”
Section 377
Introduced by the British in 1861, Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code outlawed ‘carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, womab#FgsUm@d&hlD!!zf2gEy+@5Le)HLRDt9i=hd4vMG$@@gUQeZvn or animal’.
It punished gay sex with up to 10 years in prison.
Judges in September last year,+yecjZM)9slocvRyh8&t@Ct1=U6)E87Q+tJe4l6b8VMQ3rp@)# ruled it was unconstitutional. They also said it violated the right to privacy.
"Sexual orientation of an indgwXd-*(2Ny&#R_tKO0MPs+VIVrUkdLeiW(zB8J1KFy8U95mV-3ividual is natural and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is a violation of Freedom of Expression” judges said.
"We have to vanquish prejudice, embrac$zd^9-@ea6a&5!e&VXUy+X*YSdrWEWN7XB@7UA#mVn2j6HPHKUe inclusion, and ensure equal rights," said Justice Misra in his judgment.
Campaigners had been pushing to abolish a colonial-era law since j*sPBl)_A#JM5iKy_iG+t4&*0fMG^5haqT1fknQrl#%vLB*MEGthe 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 the Indian ExR3klQj!LJUdG!dg)zdeoIvZ_m)+#hA)@s4_iBI79VjjPNKKf!Ppress.
"Full citizenship would include social and civil rights, the aTZbhg($4wBDq)^^gu%J1%UVXpruj-j7_4T=E*i*esKxZP%*kLcbility 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 freedWS!_AeYrU+#YNOatZWA6qxl_!uw2KzGi%A_FPKU&o7ycMk0QQYom has been savoured, the shift begun from a mentality of fear to the confidence to assert citizenship rights, though the trauma of criminalisation may last a lifetime.”
She welcomed signs of acceptance in India, such as sprinter Dut_Pjs(fWHlga!zVHQMyVNq09yttGUS54K0SoFzHeg#uq3XjBCDEee Chand becoming the first athlete to come out.
She also welcomed the first major Bollywood movie with LGBT themes, Ek Ladki Ko u9qtxtWZc9WH(%D8lG7l18qwYFH^t0)H2(Jpubt+uGlt5fs*kfDekha Toh Aisa Laga.
BuVFywpIO=Y8VGfM%jJL!TkWqHN^6GZ&k@ZQS9HnCQ5qgkDnt!)ht, importantly, she called for more rights to be recognized. "These steps require social change” she argued.
(Cover Photo: Queer Azaadi Mumbai / Facebook)
