LANDMARK DECISION BY DELHI HIGH COURT.
DEMOCRACY/INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM OVER RELIGION !.
The biggest hypocrisy is that some of the guys opposing this ruling have most of the homosexuals in their fold. As they are not allowed to practise their lifestyle freely they end up as priests and molest children.
It is known fact that in many Pathan areas men/boys are preferred over women. As the joke goes you cannot bend to pickup a dollar bill in Kabul!.
I do not understand this double standard.
This decision keeps the hope alive that India still holds individual freedom over collective BS.
On the other hand the Mr.RAJA the Telecom & IT minister calls up the Judge of Chennai High Court and threatens him to give a bail to his chamcha.
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http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/090702/world/india_gays_law_rights
Indian court rules gay sex legal
NEW DELHI (AFP) - New Delhi's highest court issued a landmark ruling Thursday that decriminalised gay sex between consenting adults in India by declaring a colonial-era ban on homosexuality unconstitutional.
The decision by the Delhi High Court was hailed by gay activists here as a historic step in their struggle to achieve equal rights in a conservative society that largely regards homosexuality as a taboo illness.
The court ruled that the existing ban on homosexual acts was discriminatory and therefore a violation of individual rights guaranteed by the constitution.
Homosexuality has been illegal in India since 1860 under a statute introduced by British colonial rulers that banned \"carnal intercourse against the order of nature.\" Conviction carried a fine and maximum 10-year jail sentence.
Although prosecutions were rare, gay activists said police used the law to harass and intimidate members of their community.
\"We are all very thrilled and happy,\" said Anjali Gopalan, executive director of the Naz Foundation, a gay advocacy group that had petitioned the court to overturn the statute.
\"This is just the beginning. The battle will continue till every member of this community gets all the rights that an ordinary citizen has,\" Gopalan told reporters.
While the ruling is non-binding outside the Indian capital, it effectively leaves the government with the choice of appealing to the Supreme Court or repealing the law nationwide.
The decision was criticised by religious groups, particularly leaders of India's Muslim and Christian communities who had staunchly opposed the move to legalise gay sex.
\"This is absolutely wrong,\" Ahmed Bukhari, imam at the Jama Masjid in Delhi, India's largest mosque.
\"We will not accept any such law,\" Bukhari said.
Father Babu Joseph, spokesman for the Catholic Bishops Conference of India, said the court's decision would make no difference to the Church's stand.
\"While respecting the judgement of the court, we still hold that homosexuality is not an acceptable behaviour in society,\" he said.
In recent years, India's largely closeted homosexual community has raised its profile, organising gay pride marches in major cities such as New Delhi and Mumbai.
\"I feel very proud to be an Indian today,\" said openly gay fashion designer Wendell Rodericks.
The Indian government has offered mixed messages on the issue, with some ministers speaking out in favour of the petition, only to be contradicted by others in the cabinet.
Law Minister Veerappa Moily declined to offer any immediate comment on Thursday's ruling, telling reporters at parliament that he needed to study the text properly.
Ashok Row Kavi, a prominent gay rights campaigner since the 1970s, told AFP from Bangkok, where he was attending a UN AIDS conference, that the court's decision opened a new era.
\"I will return to India as a free gay man ... free from extortion, violence and blackmail from the police, free from discrimination and free to access all health services,\" Kavi said.
The UN AIDS agency had supported the petition arguing that decriminalising homosexuality would help India combat the spread of HIV/AIDS.
India has an estimated 2.5 million people living with HIV.
New York-based Human Rights Watch also welcomed the ruling, saying it was overdue.
\"This legal remnant of British colonialism has been used to deprive people of their basic rights for too long,\" said Scott Long, director of the watchdog's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Program.
\"This long-awaited decision testifies to the reach of democracy and rights in India,\" Long said.
Bollywood actress and gay rights campaigner Celina Jaitley said the ruling was historic.
\"I'm overwhelmed,\" Jaitley told AFP in Mumbai.
\"It's great not to be criminalised for being a human being and what you do in your bedroom,\" she added.
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Sunny Leone a true Canadian DESI now back in India !.
Indian society is progressing and catching up extremely fast. You decide, whether it's for better or worse.
Although I have no problems with homosexuals, I do have a problem with the movement. The open flaunting of rights.
Its not just that the term "progressive" gets tagged with a gay movement, but you are automatically tagged "narrow-minded and conservative" if you speak against it. This is ridiculously hypocritical and a classic example of "when you point a finger at someone, you have three pointing back at you".
I am willing to tolerate them. I am willing to be friends with them. I am willing to be their neighbor. I have worked with them. Its all good. But I do believe there is some amount of influence this movement can have on young minds as in wanting to "explore" sexually....maybe...one never knows the impression this creates.
As long as they keep their parades in their own bedrooms, it is perfectly fine by me.
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If you have a gun, you can rob a bank.
If you have a bank, you can rob everyone.
- Bill Maher
Quote:
Originally posted by blorean
Although I have no problems with homosexuals, I do have a problem with the movement. The open flaunting of rights.
Its not just that the term "progressive" gets tagged with a gay movement, but you are automatically tagged "narrow-minded and conservative" if you speak against it. This is ridiculously hypocritical and a classic example of "when you point a finger at someone, you have three pointing back at you".
I am willing to tolerate them. I am willing to be friends with them. I am willing to be their neighbor. I have worked with them. Its all good. But I do believe there is some amount of influence this movement can have on young minds as in wanting to "explore" sexually....maybe...one never knows the impression this creates.
As long as they keep their parades in their own bedrooms, it is perfectly fine by me.
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~ Morning rain
Quote:
Originally posted by morning_rain
Quote:
Originally posted by blorean
Although I have no problems with homosexuals, I do have a problem with the movement. The open flaunting of rights.
Its not just that the term \"progressive\" gets tagged with a gay movement, but you are automatically tagged \"narrow-minded and conservative\" if you speak against it. This is ridiculously hypocritical and a classic example of \"when you point a finger at someone, you have three pointing back at you\".
I am willing to tolerate them. I am willing to be friends with them. I am willing to be their neighbor. I have worked with them. Its all good. But I do believe there is some amount of influence this movement can have on young minds as in wanting to \"explore\" sexually....maybe...one never knows the impression this creates.
As long as they keep their parades in their own bedrooms, it is perfectly fine by me.
how would you feel if your child told you they were gay?
Quote:
Originally posted by morning_rain
Sex sells everything. The influence on young minds comes from so many places , right?
Quote:
Originally posted by morning_rain
Sexual orientation has been studied to be largely genetic in nature.
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If you have a gun, you can rob a bank.
If you have a bank, you can rob everyone.
- Bill Maher
One life, let one live the way one wishes,
It is unfortunate that lives have to be lived as per the rules of the society
There are chains around us all, many obvious and many confining
I believe that this landmark decision, simply allows people with different sexual orientations to fall back to the rule book when harrassed. It was indeed needed especially in countries like India where the pressure of society is all too burdensome
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Bombay State of mind
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In India, parents are concerned about sending their teenage girl children for studies outside their town and prefer them to be day scholars than hostelites. Now the parents have to be worried about their teenage sons too. There was this son of a vice-chancellor in TN who was done to gory death, just because he protested victimisation done to him in the name of ragging in his hostel. The Times of India must have gays as majority of their editorial board. It devoted most of their front page and many of other pages to this non-issue or issue affecting less than probably 0.0001% of the population as if it was the most important problem facing the country. As Ramdev says this must be problem of sick minds needing medical treatment.
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