| India Legalizes Gay Sex |
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| by Tom McGregor | Thu, Jul 2, 2009, 09:24 AM |
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According to the BBC News, "the ruling overturns a 148-year-old colonial law which describes a same-sex relationship as an 'unnatural offense.'" Participants in homosexual acts could have faced a 10-year prison sentence. Many people in India consider same-sex relationships as illegitimate. Nevertheless, the LGBT community have long argued that the law contravened human rights. Delhi's High Court judged that the law forbidding homosexual acts was discriminatory and a "violation of fundamental rights." The court stated that a statute in Section 377 of the Indian Penal code, which defines homosexual activities as "carnal intercourse against the order of nature" and made them illegal, was an "antithesis of the right of equality." As reported by the BBC, "the ruling is historic in a country where homosexuals face discrimination and persecution on a daily basis but it is likely to be challenged, says the BBC's Soulik Biswas in Delhi." It also contends to alter the discourse on sexuality in the largely conservative nation, where even publicly mentioning sex is considered taboo, as revealed by BBC's correspondent. All over the nation, gay rights activists welcomed the judgment claiming it was "India's Stonewall." In 1969, New York's Stonewall riots is credited with launching the gay rights movement. Aditya Badopadihyay, activist and attorney, is quoted as saying, "it (the ruling) is India's Stonewall. We are elated. I think what now happens is that a lot of our fundamental rights and civic rights which were denied to us can now be reclaimed by us. It is a fabulously written judgment, and it restores our faith in the judiciary." Ashok Row Kavi, leading gay rights activist and the editor of India's first gay magazine, welcomed the ruling but warned the stigma against homosexuals will persist. To read the entire article from the BBC News, link here: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it 
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written by Austin , July 03, 2009 Stories about gay sex in India while not even a mention in Dallasblog so far (after a week) about Republican governor Mark Sanford and his taxpayer financed trysts? Of course, if he were a Democrat like Spitzer or Blagojevich he might get the same multiple story treatment here that they did. Write comment
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A court in Delhi, the Indian capital, has ruled that homosexual intercourse between consenting adults should not be deemed a criminal act.
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