Re: Gay movements in India
**In India, there’s nothing to be gay about
**By Siddharth Srivastava
NEW DELHI - While the emotional outbursts for and against same-sex marriage rages in the United States, in India, gays still live in a time warp. Same-gender sexual relations are still punishable by state laws. Legal sanction or acceptance of such relations or unions are beyond contemplation.
The government stand on homosexuality in India has driven a vast community of gays,** with estimates ranging from 5 million to 50 million, further into the fringes of society.** The Indian government has argued before the New Delhi High Court that such homosexual practices cannot be legalized in India since “Indian society is intolerant to the practice of homosexuals/lesbianism”.
The government’s reply late last year was to a petition filed by the New Delhi-based Naz Foundation, a nongovernmental organization (NGO), working for the welfare of HIV-positive and AIDS patients, that had sought to legalize homosexuality in India. :eek:
The NGO had challenged the constitutionality of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code that makes homosexuality illegal. According to the law, “whoever voluntarily has sex against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or for a term that may extend to 10 years”.
The NGO had argued that due to fear of police action, consenting adult males having sexual relations were not coming out of the closet and declaring themselves to be gay, thereby hampering medical prevention or intervention in cases of HIV/AIDS.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/FC18Df04.html