Indian Supreme Court Recriminalizes Homosexuality
In a surprising development, the Indian Supreme Court reinstated a 153 year old ban on gay sex and homosexuality in India.
The so-called “Section 377” law was originally passed when India was a colony of the British Empire, and was based on 16th century English Law:
377. Unnatural offences: Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment of either description for term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.
In 2009, Judges on the Delhi High Court overturned that 1861 law and decriminalized homosexuality in India, saying:
“The inclusiveness that Indian society traditionally displayed, literally in every aspect of life, is manifest in recognizing a role in society for everyone,” judges of the Delhi High Court wrote in a 105-page decision, India’s first to directly address rights for gay men and lesbians. “Those perceived by the majority as ‘deviants’ or ‘different’ are not on that score excluded or ostracized,” the decision said.
Admittedly, I am not all too familiar with the internal workings of Indian politics. But I do remember when the city of Bombay was renamed to Mumbai in 1995. The right-wing Shiv Sena party who had just won election, and claimed that Bombay was an “unwanted legacy of British colonial rule”.
Right-wing hypocrisy, it seems, transcends language, cultural and even religious boundaries. Evangelical Christians in America have been cherry-picking from the Bible to suit their anti-gay and ideological agendas for decades now.
