Being Gay still not happily accepted in India

GAY RIGHTS: In 2003, the Delhi High court refused to consider a petition questioning Section 377.

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Keywords: Indian Law, Homosexuality

New Delhi: Being Gay in India is not only illegal according to an outdated law that badly needs changing, but gays are often victims of a society that is still to come to terms with alternate sexuality.

The gay and lesbian communities in the country have lobbied hard to find a voice but the law of the land still works against them. Same sex couples in the country still live in constant fear of persecution and violence from the police and even their own families.

Same sex couples cannot buy a house together, cannot have a joint bank account, cannot even will property to each other without being challenged by their families.

Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code criminalises 'intercourse which is against the order of nature', a vague definition that includes oral sex and anal sex. The punishment ranges from ten years to life imprisonment. Ironically, there is no law that criminalises Paedophlila.

In 2003, the Delhi High court refused to consider a petition questioning Section 377. However, the PIL is now being heard again. But across the world, countries are being more responsive to Gay rights. Almost all of Europe including the Vatican has no laws against homosexuality. In 2005, South Africa became the fifth nation to recognise Gay marriages followed by Norway, recently.

The irony is that India's law on homosexuality, which was framed in 1860 in Victorian England, is no longer a part of British law but somehow still finds its place in our law books.