Today 1.3 billion people in India can now have gay sex without risking prison. A British law from 1860 has finally been struck down.
Campaigners celebrate as India decriminalises homosexualitelebrations erupt in India after landmark gay rights ruling – video
by Michael Safi, the Guardian, in Delhi. Celebrations erupted in India after the supreme court unanimously ruled to decriminalise homosexual sex in a landmark judgment for gay rights.
A five-judge bench at the country’s highest court ruled that a 160-year-old law banning sex “against the order of nature” amounted to discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and was unconstitutional. The judgment, after 24 years of legal challenges, triggered elation among LGBT Indians and their allies across the country who held all-night parties in nightclubs in major cities.
In Mumbai, people marched carrying a giant rainbow banner; in Bangalore they draped themselves in the LBGT flag and let off scores of balloons. In Delhi’s luxury Lalit hotel, run by one of the activists who fought Thursday’s case, and home to one of the city’s furtively gay-friendly nightclubs, staff danced in the lobby.
“Criminalising carnal intercourse under section 377 Indian penal code is irrational, indefensible and manifestly arbitrary,” said the chief justice, Dipak Misra, in his decision, announced at about 11.30am on Thursday.
DESiblitz> Cultural (article updated due to legalisation victory)
What Legalising Gay Rights in India really means
Gay rights in India is not just a legal issue but one that challenges its culture and values. Continue reading “1,300 million Indians get Right to have Gay Sex”
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