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Reaction in India was instantaneous: "I am ecstatic, euphoric," said Sumit Baudh, a lawyer active in Voices Against 377, a coalition of social organisations that petitioned the court for the repeal of the Britishimposed law. "This means a tremendous boost to pride, and dignity." "Given the kind of closeted lives that people have been leading, it's some measure of reassurance that the law is not going to be a hindrance to the leading of open, honest lives," he said. The constitutional challenge to India's ban has been watched closely by gay activists across Asia and Africa, especially in former colonies of the British that decriminalised homosexuality at home in 1967. The verdict was also praised by human rights groups and the UN. However, Indian religious organisations, which carry considerable political clout in a constitutionally secular but religiously conservative society, expressed dismay. Father Babu Joseph, a Roman Catholic priest, said: "We cannot afford to endorse homosexuality as normal and socially acceptable."
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| The Anti-Sodomy laws in India were enacted in the 1860s during British colonial rule to criminalize non-procreative sex, specifically sex between men, Section 377 has been used by police and other individuals to entrap, harass and blackmail those with non-conforming sexual orientations and gender identities and human rights defenders. This law has encouraged sexual and physical abuse of gay men and transgender people in police custody. |
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| While the text is silent on lesbianism, it has facilitated an environment where family violence against lesbians and bisexual women happens with impunity, leading to women's injury, death, and suicide. The Court's decision to change this law helps ease the environment of fear in which countless LGBT people live their lives in Delhi. |
| Sources: IGLHRC, Time Magazine |
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Reaction in India was instantaneous: "I am ecstatic, euphoric," said Sumit Baudh, a lawyer active in Voices Against 377, a coalition of social organisations that petitioned the court for the repeal of the Britishimposed law. "This means a tremendous boost to pride, and dignity." "Given the kind of closeted lives that people have been leading, it's some measure of reassurance that the law is not going to be a hindrance to the leading of open, honest lives," he said. The constitutional challenge to India's ban has been watched closely by gay activists across Asia and Africa, especially in former colonies of the British that decriminalised homosexuality at home in 1967. The verdict was also praised by human rights groups and the UN. However, Indian religious organisations, which carry considerable political clout in a constitutionally secular but religiously conservative society, expressed dismay. Father Babu Joseph, a Roman Catholic priest, said: "We cannot afford to endorse homosexuality as normal and socially acceptable."
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| The Anti-Sodomy laws in India were enacted in the 1860s during British colonial rule to criminalize non-procreative sex, specifically sex between men, Section 377 has been used by police and other individuals to entrap, harass and blackmail those with non-conforming sexual orientations and gender identities and human rights defenders. This law has encouraged sexual and physical abuse of gay men and transgender people in police custody. |
|
| While the text is silent on lesbianism, it has facilitated an environment where family violence against lesbians and bisexual women happens with impunity, leading to women's injury, death, and suicide. The Court's decision to change this law helps ease the environment of fear in which countless LGBT people live their lives in Delhi. |
| Sources: IGLHRC, Time Magazine |