India's anti-gay law faces challenge
India's anti-gay law faces challenge
By Amelia Gentleman
Copyright by The International Herald Tribune
Published: September 15, 2006
NEW DELHI Amid a climate of growing sexual tolerance within urban India, a campaign to force the government to decriminalize homosexuality is rapidly gaining momentum.
About 150 of India's most influential figures - from the novelist Vikram Seth to the Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen - have joined their voices in a protest letter demanding the repeal of "cruel and discriminatory" legislation banning gay sex.
The letter brings together senior names from India's traditionally conservative elite - business, civil service and judiciary - alongside the more expected representatives of human rights groups.
"Some of India's most distinguished people have come together to say that this is a fundamental human rights issue which must be addressed," said Siddharth Dube, a writer and senior official of the UN AIDS program, or Unaids.
The signatories called for Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which bans gay sex, to be overturned immediately. The law has been used to "systematically persecute, blackmail, arrest and terrorize sexual minorities," said the letter, which was to be published in Indian newspapers Saturday.
Hostility to the law has intensified for two reasons: It is seen as an anachronism from a less tolerant era and health care officials, struggling to contain India's AIDS epidemic, warn that it hampers their efforts to contact vulnerable groups.
The letter, whose signers include Soli Sorabjee, a former attorney general, and Nitin Desai, a former UN under secretary general, stresses that the law has been "used by homophobic officials to suppress the work of legitimate HIV- prevention groups, leaving gay and bisexual men in India even more defenseless against HIV infection."
The letter's release was timed to anticipate a critical ruling from Delhi's High Court, expected early next month, on the validity of the legislation. An HIV-AIDS prevention organization, the Naz Foundation, has sued to have Section 377 overturned, but its case was rejected on the grounds that "public morality" should "prevail over the exercise of any private right." The petition is being heard again on appeal.
Unaids said in May that India had the highest number of people in the world living with HIV - about 5.7 million. A few weeks later, the government's AIDS-prevention body called for the law to be overturned, warning that "Section 377 can adversely contribute to pushing the infection underground."
Activists say internal government memos suggest the government is tilting in favor of decriminalization.
The petition seeks to broaden the issue from one of public health to a moral, human rights argument. Activists point out that the legislation was introduced by the British colonial authorities and does not reflect ancient Hindu cultural values. The Hindu epics reveal a tolerant approach to homosexuality, and the stone carvings on the temples of Khajuraho show men having sex with men.
Section 377 brackets gay sex with sex with animals and pedophilia, defining it as an "unnatural" offense, punishable by up to 10 years' imprisonment.
Although the law is rarely enforced, its presence sends a clear signal to law enforcement bodies, and police harassment of gay men is widespread.
Dube, one of the organizers behind the petition, said the fear of being prosecuted in India for being openly gay had caused him to live abroad for most of his adult life.
"People sometimes make the mistake of thinking that because this law is not often prosecuted, that means it is innocuous. It doesn't take prosecution in a law court to make people terrified. The fear of prosecution lingers," he said. "As a gay Indian, one always feels like an outsider - ostracized. I felt like a criminal all the time."
By Amelia Gentleman
Copyright by The International Herald Tribune
Published: September 15, 2006
NEW DELHI Amid a climate of growing sexual tolerance within urban India, a campaign to force the government to decriminalize homosexuality is rapidly gaining momentum.
About 150 of India's most influential figures - from the novelist Vikram Seth to the Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen - have joined their voices in a protest letter demanding the repeal of "cruel and discriminatory" legislation banning gay sex.
The letter brings together senior names from India's traditionally conservative elite - business, civil service and judiciary - alongside the more expected representatives of human rights groups.
"Some of India's most distinguished people have come together to say that this is a fundamental human rights issue which must be addressed," said Siddharth Dube, a writer and senior official of the UN AIDS program, or Unaids.
The signatories called for Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which bans gay sex, to be overturned immediately. The law has been used to "systematically persecute, blackmail, arrest and terrorize sexual minorities," said the letter, which was to be published in Indian newspapers Saturday.
Hostility to the law has intensified for two reasons: It is seen as an anachronism from a less tolerant era and health care officials, struggling to contain India's AIDS epidemic, warn that it hampers their efforts to contact vulnerable groups.
The letter, whose signers include Soli Sorabjee, a former attorney general, and Nitin Desai, a former UN under secretary general, stresses that the law has been "used by homophobic officials to suppress the work of legitimate HIV- prevention groups, leaving gay and bisexual men in India even more defenseless against HIV infection."
The letter's release was timed to anticipate a critical ruling from Delhi's High Court, expected early next month, on the validity of the legislation. An HIV-AIDS prevention organization, the Naz Foundation, has sued to have Section 377 overturned, but its case was rejected on the grounds that "public morality" should "prevail over the exercise of any private right." The petition is being heard again on appeal.
Unaids said in May that India had the highest number of people in the world living with HIV - about 5.7 million. A few weeks later, the government's AIDS-prevention body called for the law to be overturned, warning that "Section 377 can adversely contribute to pushing the infection underground."
Activists say internal government memos suggest the government is tilting in favor of decriminalization.
The petition seeks to broaden the issue from one of public health to a moral, human rights argument. Activists point out that the legislation was introduced by the British colonial authorities and does not reflect ancient Hindu cultural values. The Hindu epics reveal a tolerant approach to homosexuality, and the stone carvings on the temples of Khajuraho show men having sex with men.
Section 377 brackets gay sex with sex with animals and pedophilia, defining it as an "unnatural" offense, punishable by up to 10 years' imprisonment.
Although the law is rarely enforced, its presence sends a clear signal to law enforcement bodies, and police harassment of gay men is widespread.
Dube, one of the organizers behind the petition, said the fear of being prosecuted in India for being openly gay had caused him to live abroad for most of his adult life.
"People sometimes make the mistake of thinking that because this law is not often prosecuted, that means it is innocuous. It doesn't take prosecution in a law court to make people terrified. The fear of prosecution lingers," he said. "As a gay Indian, one always feels like an outsider - ostracized. I felt like a criminal all the time."
posted by Carlos T Mock @ 10:00 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home