Sad day for our Indian sisters and brothers, and for the LGBT community globally.
India re-criminalizes same-sex relationships – a major setback for Human Rights protection ! The global LGBT community back in campaigning mode !
The Supreme Court ruled today that the law dating back to British colonial times, which prohibits ‘carnal intercourse against the order of nature’, and under which sexual and gender minorities have been heavily persecuted, stays valid for same-sex relationships.
In 2009, the Delhi High court had ordered that same-sex relationships should not fall under the remit of this law. That decision was universally acclaimed by Human Rights Defenders as a major step towards India meeting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The Supreme court today ruled that the Delhi High Court decision is constitutionally unsustainable as only the government can change a law.
Although Indian NGOs have announced they will appeal the decision, it seems the battle is now going to the Parliament. Law Minister Kapil Sibal said “Parliament will take it up in due course”.
But how soon will that be ? The LGBT community in India is definitely back in campaigning mode, and will need strong support from everyone, not least because a blow to LGBT equality anywhere, and especially in one of the most populated and powerful nations on the planet, is a setback for all of us.
A broad alliance of organisations and individual* which had mobilised on the judicial process declared : “Hard as this decision is and difficult as the road forward may be, we draw strength and inspiration from ordinary LGBT persons who will not allow this to affect the way they lead their lives. In the course of the last ten years or so, LGBT persons have begun to lead their lives openly and publicly proclaiming their claim to equal citizenship. The page of history has turned and no power on earth can deny LGBT persons the right to freedom, equality and dignity.”
Voices Against 377, Alternative Law Forum, Adhikaar and other petitioners including parents of LGBT persons, mental health professionals, academics and law professors
http://dayagainsthomophobia.org/india-re-criminalizes-same-sex-relationships-in-a-major-setback-for-human-rights-protection/