For India’s gay community, the joy that greeted this month’s court ruling legalizing gay sex is tempered by the fact that, although the law now accepts them, society still does not.
For all the celebrations and talk of an historic milestone, many believe it will take more than a court decision to change public attitudes toward homosexuality, which is largely taboo in India and considered by many to be a mental illness. Although the Delhi High Court’s verdict has served as a morale booster for men and women who lived in constant fear of being criminalized, they say it is unlikely to encourage those in the closet to come out.
“I don’t think it will make a major impact,” says Maya, 32, who runs a counseling center for lesbians and people with gender identity issues. “I’m sure some people who were afraid of the legal implications are more comfortable now, but there are still so many social issues.”
“The major issues are how you’re going to tell your family — it has nothing to do with the law,” she said.
Abhi’s parents took him to a psychiatrist when he came out to them two years ago. They eventually came to terms with his sexual orientation, but the 22-year-old call center employee believes it will take generations for India to tolerate, let alone embrace homosexuality, on a wider scale. After several narrow escapes with police who raided community parties he attended, Abhi hopes he will be able to meet other men with the comfort of knowing he cannot be arrested.
“I can go to a party every night. For us to express ourselves before in public it was so difficult. Now it shouldn’t be an issue for us,” Abhi said.
Rahul, a 35-year-old who works for an outsourcing firm, says the ruling is a “psychological step forward” for him, but means more to people who suffered regular harassment at the hands of police.
He and other middle-class gays generally meet men through discreet avenues such as the Internet and formal groups, while others are forced to turn to public areas such as parks, where police are eager to nab suspected homosexuals.
“The gay and lesbian community was especially fearful of cops because if you are vulnerable enough they’ll try to extract money from you,” Rahul said. “They wouldn’t actually threaten to put you behind bars but it was implicit.”
The government has the choice to appeal to the Supreme Court, but if the law is repealed nationwide, it means the next step in the rights movement could be a campaign to legalize gay marriage and adoption for same-sex couples.
In staunchly conservative India, where heterosexual marriage is viewed as a cornerstone of family structure, the thought of a same-sex couple raising a child once seemed unthinkable.
“I’m emboldened by the fact that I can look forward to marrying my boyfriend,” Rahul said.
He sees it as a natural progression toward full-fledged equality, and is optimistic — some would say overly so — that gay marriage will become legal within four to five years.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to