by Rex Wockner
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
India's Supreme Court on April 19 will hear an appeal of the Delhi High Court ruling that struck down the nation's ban on gay sex in July 2009.
At least two days of arguments are planned.
A number of parties have been allowed to intervene in the appeal to support or oppose the original ruling — including, among the supporters, famed Indian filmmaker Shyam Benegal, an ad hoc group of 19 parents with gay/lesbian children, an ad hoc group of 16 academics, and a group of 13 mental health professionals.
"All these have been admitted into the case, which goes a considerable way towards balancing the 15 petitions opposing us, most of them from extremist religious groups," said leading activist Vikram Doctor.
In striking down the ban nationally, the High Court "read down" Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code so that it no longer applies to the activities of consenting adults. The section bans "carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal" under penalty of 10 years to life in prison.
The court said 377 violated a constitutional guarantee of equality under the law, a constitutional ban on discrimination based on sex, and constitutional promises of personal liberty and protection of life.
"The criminalization of homosexuality condemns in perpetuity a sizable section of society and forces them to live their lives in the shadow of harassment, exploitation, humiliation (and) cruel and degrading treatment at the hands of the law enforcement machinery," the court wrote. "Section 377 IPC targets the homosexual community as a class and is motivated by an animus towards this vulnerable class of people. … It has no other purpose than to criminalize conduct which fails to conform with the moral or religious views of a section of society. … When everything associated with homosexuality is treated as bent, queer, repugnant, the whole gay and lesbian community is marked with deviance and perversity. … The result is that a significant group of the population is, because of its sexual non-conformity, persecuted, marginalized and turned in on itself."
Given India's population of 1.2 billion people, the High Court's decision had the effect of decriminalizing 17 percent of all LGB people on the planet.
