INDIAN LGBTI COMMUNITY CELEBRATES THE SUPREME COURT’S RULING ON SECTION 377

The Five Judge Bench has declared Section 377 unconstitutional. Chief Justice Dipak Misra said it is a unanimous verdict expressed through four separate but concurring judgements.

Although not many people were arrested under this law, it was used to blackmail transadjective/umbrella term to describe a person whose gender identity does not match the sex they were assigned at birth. More people, hijras, and men who engaged in sexual activity with other men, with trans and hijra sexrefers to the classification of a person as male, female, or other - usually made at birth, written on a birth certificate, and usually based on the appearance of their external anatomy. A person’s sex, however, is actually a combination of bodily characteristics, including chromosomes, hormones, internal and external reproductive organs, and secondary sex characteristics. More workers frequently being harassed by the police. Although the law was technically only applicable to men, also lesbianadjective/noun to describe a woman whose enduring physical, romantic, and/or emotional attraction is to other women. Women and non-binary people may use this term to describe themselves. More and bisexualadjective used to describe a person who has the capacity to form enduring physical, romantic, and/ or emotional attractions to those of the same gender or to those of other genders. More women in India were in fact subject to it, and to its resultant stigmatisation.

“The repeal of this law will open the door for the larger LGBTIacronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex people. Although this is not the acronym available to describe people of diverse sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions, and sex characteristics, it is the most commonly used in United Nations spaces and advocacy. More community, a larger discourse to ensure fundamental rights in India, This ruling also ensure the bodily integrity, sexual orientationrefers to a person’s capacity for profound emotional, affectional and sexual attraction to - and intimate and sexual relations with - individuals of a different gender or the same gender or more than one gender. More of Indian Intersexan umbrella term for the spectrum of variations of sex characteristics that naturally occur within the human species. Intersex people are born with variations of sex characteristics (such as genitals, reproductive organs, hormonal and chromosomal patterns) that are more diverse than stereotypical definitions of male or female bodies. Up to 1.7% of the global population are born with such traits; yet, because their bodies are seen as different, intersex children and adults are often stigmatised and subject to harmful practices – including in medical settings - and discriminated against. More community, even though the Indian government haven’t officially recognizes the people born as Intersex or living with Intersex traits” said Gopi Shankar Madurai, Founder of Srishti Madurai LGBTQIA+ Student Volunteer Movement in India, also the intersex representative from the Asian Region of the International Lesbian, Gayadjective to describe people whose enduring physical, romantic, and/ or emotional
attractions are to people of the same gender. Men, women and non-binary people may use this
term to describe themselves. More, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA). Gopi goes by the gender-neutral pronoun ze. “With this ruling, everyone in India, not just the LGBTI community, will be free from fear of prosecution by the ambiguous colonial law,” ze added. “Everyone will have their basic rights guaranteed once again for the first time in centuries.”

“We rejoice with all sexual, genderrefers to a social construct which places cultural and social expectations on individuals based on their assigned sex. More and sex minorities communities in India,” commented Ruth Baldacchino and Helen Kennedy, co-Secretaries General of ILGA. “As of today, a shameful part of an enduring colonial legacy is finally history. We hope that this ruling, which was made possible by the tireless work of many human rights advocates, will have an impact also on other countries around the world where our communities continue to live under the shadow of oppressive criminal laws, especially those that share a common legal heritage with India, as far afield as Africa, the Pacific and Caribbean. Today, the Supreme Court reaffirmed, loud and clear, that there is nothing criminal in our bodies, identities and loves.”

India is the first and the only country in the Indian sub-continent decriminalizing consensual same-sex sexual activity. The only other country in South Asia where such relations are not criminalized is Nepal, whose Supreme Court in 2007 ordered the government to identify all the laws that discriminated against LGBT people, and to investigate legal recognition of same-sex relationships.

“It shows that the tide is turning and history is on our side,” said Manisha Dhakal, Asian representative of ILGA board. She is also the Executive Director of Blue Diamond Society, the largest organization led by and serving the LGBTI community in Nepal. “Order from our Supreme Court paved the way for better inclusion of LGBTI people, and notably the protection of LGBTI rights in our current Constitution,” she added.

“We hope and will make sure that other countries will follow suit in overturning this remnant from the colonial law,” said Mani AQ from Naz Pakistan, the other Asian representative of ILGA board. Homosexual activity is still a criminal offense in several other countries in Asia, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Indonesia (Aceh), Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Malaysia, the Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Singapore, Sri Lanka, UAE, and Yemen.

Media Contacts:

Lieu Anh Vu (ILGA Asia)
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Phone number: +66 (0) 938690693

Daniele Paletta (ILGA World)
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