Clash over gay rights in SC set to snowball

Source: Hindustan Times
Samar Halarnkar
New Delhi, February 20, 2010
First Published: 21:19 IST(20/2/2010)

Using fresh arguments that range from imperiling India’s defence to making its people delusional, 14 new organisations have joined the final legal battle against the decriminalisation of homosexuality.

On Saturday, the number of petitioners in the Supreme Court - challenging the July 2009 decision of the Delhi High Court to strike down an anti-sodomy law - stood at 16 from the original two.

Two Christian church coalitions, three Muslim NGOs, two Hindu astrologers, a disciple of yoga guru Baba Ramdev, an NGO run by a former Delhi police officer, and an environmentalist, will be among those in the Supreme Court when it hears an appeal next month against the overturning of the Indian Penal Code’ section 377.

Only one person, film director and Rajya Sabha MP Shyam Benegal, has quietly joined the original petitioner, Delhi NGO Naz Foundation, in support of gay rights in the Supreme Court.

With the government saying it will not oppose the Delhi High Court judgement, which experts consider legally strong, the new opponents are readying a range of fresh arguments:

· “Medical opinion” that only the vagina has the muscles required for sex, not the anus (Utkal Christian Foundation, Cuttack)

· Expanding the constitutional right to non-discrimination to include sexual orientation could lead to demands for job reservations (Apostolic Churches Alliance, Thiruvananthapuram)

· Indian cultural morality maybe ready for homosexuality in “50 or 100 years”, not today (Raza Academy, Mumbai)
Chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Panthers Party, Prof Bhim Singh, said in his petition that the Delhi High Court ruling would be “a disaster for the Indian defence forces and the security of the country… in deserted areas”.

“Seedlings of homosexuality developed among the (European and US) soldiers during the first and the second world war when they had to stay back in the forests and the hills for years without having any access to meet their sexual desires,” said Singh, whose party otherwise fights for the reorganisation of J&K.

“My challenge of the (Delhi) high court judgement is that it should not have relied on foreign judgements,” said Mushtaq Ahmed, counsel for Mumbai’s Raza Academy, a 32-year-old Islamic advocacy group. “We can’t impose a foreign cultural morality today.”

From Cuttack, B D Das, counsel for the Utkal Christian Foundation, a coalition of Orissa churches, said the decriminalisation of homosexuality had already led gay couples to request church marriages.
“Of course we have not given permission,” said Das, referring to homosexuality as a “biblical sin”.

“Earlier, it (gay marriage) was criminal, so they would not dare to ask.”
Recognising these widespread sensitivities, normally vocal gay, lesbian and transgender activists are staying under the radar. They will stick to the high court’s stress on constitutional rights of an individual over public morality and not expand arguments to subjects like marriage and employment.

“Our energies are focused on safeguarding the decision in the Supreme Court,” said Gautam Bhan, spokesperson of “Voices against 377″, a coalition of gay rights organisations.

The old arguments, made by former right-wing Member of Parliament B.P. Singhal and an NGO called the Joint Action Council, Kannur (in Kerala), have been reformulated as well. These focus on the religious opposition to homosexuality, threat to “public morality” and what opponents argue is its “unnatural” nature.

“(The) High Court decision will protect consensual unnatural sexual acts even when they are obtained by fraud, deceit, misrepresentation, causing fear, intoxication or due to unsoundness of mind,” argued S K Gupta, a disciple of yoga guru Ramdev, and representative of Delhi’s Patanjali Yogpeeth.

The Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR), run by former police officer Amod Kanth, said the high court had not considered adoption of children by homosexual couples and the concept of family and parenthood.

“The judgement will cause ‘value disorientation’ and torment children,” said DCPCR secretary R C Gupta, “leading to identity crisis, social physical and psychological maladaptation in society.”

“It is an established medical theory that AIDS spread in human beings through monkeys in African countries. Though not established, there are certain theories that state that unnatural sex with animals can be one of the causes.

“It is submitted that unnatural acts always come with curse from nature, as AIDS in the present form and therefore it deserves to be curbed with strong hands (sic).”

Against:
Apostolic Churches Alliance
All India Muslim Personal Law Board
S K Gupta, Patanjali Yogpeeth
B Krishna Bhat, environmentalist
Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights
Utkal Christian Council
Krantikari Manuvadi Morcha Party
Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam
Suresh Kumar, Mukesh Kumar Koushal, astrologers
(does not include all petitioners)

For:
Naz Foundation
Shyam Benegal, film director

Nepal to Court Gay Tourism

By Staff Writer, PinkNews.co.uk • January 20, 2010 - 11:38

Nepal is set to legalise gay marriage later this year and will celebrate the change by promoting the country as the gay tourism capital of Asia.

Last year, the Supreme Court approved same-sex marriage and the government is expected to begin drafting a law allowing in in the coming months.

Next month, a conference will be held to discuss how the country can attract more gay couples.

The country’s only out gay MP Sunil Babu Pant, has launched a travel company called Pink Mountain which will offer wedding ceremonies at the base of Everest and processions on elephant-back.

He believes Nepal’s economy could see a substantial boost if the country can attract ten per cent of global gay tourism.

Pant, a hero to many gay activists worldwide, told the Daily Telegraph: “Most Asian countries don’t welcome gay visitors, so we can have the maximum benefit for the Nepal economy which is fragile after years of war.

He added that the government had a target of increasing the number of tourists from 400,000 to one million in the coming year.

Nepal was once strongly conservative and gays in the Himalayan kingdom previously suffered persistent persecution from security forces during the absolutist rule of King Gyanendra.

The harassment of lesbian, gay and trans people continued at the hands of Maoist rebels.

Until 2007, homosexuality was illegal in the country but the past few years have seen profound changes for gay rights.

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2010/01/20/nepal-to-court-gay-tourism/

India’s Supreme Court accepts challenge to ruling on gay sex

By Jessica Geen • July 14, 2009 - 13:49
SOURCE:  Pinknews
India’s Supreme Court is considering whether to rule on the petition
No Comments Yet on India’s Supreme Court accepts challenge to ruling on gay sex

The Indian Supreme Court has agreed to consider a petition against a lower court’s ruling that homosexuality should be decriminalised.

Earlier this month, the Delhi High Court ruled that the colonial-era law was unconstitutional.

The petition was filed by Sushil Kumar Kaushal, described as a “Hindu astrologer”. He argued that if gay sex is legalised, “tomorrow people might seek permission for having sex with animals”.

His petition also claimed that the judgement would result in a further spread of HIV/AIDS.

Kaushal’s lawyer Pravin Agarwal cited reports of seven gay marriages having taken place in India since the ruling.

The Supreme Court responded that the ruling had not mentioned marriage and referred only to sexual acts between consenting adults.

It will decide by July 20th whether to rule on the merits of the challenge.

Days after Kaushal’s challenge, a yoga guru filed a similar challenge saying homosexuality was a “disease” and could be cured by yoga.

According to the Indian Express, Swami Baba Ramdev said: “It can be treated like any other congenital defect. Such tendencies can be treated by yoga, pranayama (breathing exercises) and other meditation techniques.”

Ramdev is an influential figure among middle-class Hindu families, who regularly watch his health programmes on television. According to previous reports, he has made various claims as to the benefits of yoga, saying it can cure diseases such as AIDS, cancer and leukemia.

SC likely to hear on Thursday a plea against allowing gay sex

Wednesday, July 8, 2009
SOURCE:  The Hindu

New Delhi (PTI) The Supreme Court is likely to hear on Thursday a petition filed by an astrologer challenging the Delhi High Court’s verdict legalising gay sex.

The petition filed by Suresh Kumar Kaushal has sought quashing of July 2 verdict of the High Court legalising gay sex between consenting adults in private, which was earlier a criminal offence punishable with upto life imprisonmnet.

Mr. Kaushal said the petition, which will come for hearing during the mentioning hour, contended that homosexual acts, by all standards, was an unnatural act and it could not be permitted.

“No one can imagine the consequences of the unnatural acts. Even animals don’t indulge in such activities,” Mr. Kaushal said in his petition.

He said the High Court judgment would result in spread of HIV virus as “it has been amply proved that the HIV virus is a result of unnatural sex.”

“We have to look at our own scriptures to seek guidance from them and it is against such behaviour in our society,” he said.

“If such abnormality is permitted, then tomorrow people might seek permission for having sex with animals,” he said.

The High Court, in a landmark verdict, legalised gay sex among consenting adults.

Indian gay ‘marriage’ follows legal ruling

08/07/2009 - 16:35:12
SOURCE:  Ireland On-Line

Just a week after a New Delhi court decriminalised homosexuality, the first gay “marriage” has taken place in India.

Amrit and Jeeta, both 18, decided to get married following the landmark judgment which changed a 148-year-old British colonial-era ruling that made homosexual sex a punishable offence.

However, the verdict can still be challenged in India’s Supreme Court.

“I was so delighted after the court’s verdict that we both decided to get married,” Jeeta said after the ceremony at the Shiridi temple in the north Indian city of Chandigarh.

“We had been facing discrimination in public, at the work place and at home. But things may look up for people like us now.” The couple fell in love about three months ago, but have been facing opposition from a traditionally conservative society.

Muslim and Hindu groups have united in opposing the court ruling and are now trying to convince other religious associations to join in their resistance.

A Vishwa Hindu Parishad activist today told the Press Association: “This is not our culture and I don’t know why people allowed this to happen.

“After the Delhi High Court verdict, it seems that it has become a fashion to champion gay rights.There should be strong resistance and we will challenge the verdict in the Supreme Court” Jeeta’s mother reportedly refuses to accept her son’s sexual orientation. “He is not a homosexual and is employed with a pharmaceutical factory,” she said.

His partner Amrit, however, said he felt “alive” after his decision to get married. “I will be calling a few selected friends [for the reception] who encouraged us in this bold step.

“But it will be open, with no fear of anyone. There are so many like us who secretly love each other,” he told Indian newspaper the Times of India.

“Few have the courage to get married. Maybe this step of ours can motivate the rest of the community to break the fetters of society,” he added.