Irony is that a British news outlet is posting about it when they were the ones who introduced that law in India before 157 years!!
Anyway, a great step in the right direction!
India court legalises gay sex in landmark ruling
51–60 of 178 posts
Re: India court legalises gay sex in landmark ruling
#52As a gay Indian this is a great news! but it is one thing to decriminalize it legally and complete different thing for societal acceptance and leading a normal life as gay person in India. For an average gay person in India this doesn’t change much. There is still a long way to go. This law was never a problem for me but my family and relative and neighbors are. But it is a good progress.
The world is so weird. I never understood the motive behind tyrannizing other people. How is that winning at anything other than being an asshole? Why don't people just leave other people alone? Is it so much different to tyrannize a woman for being feminine, or just being attractive? Most of us are instinctively disgusted by that--or at least claim to be?
Certain types of social orders depend on strict control of social mores. Hell, arguably all do to some extent - try walking down the street naked and see how that goes...
Re: India court legalises gay sex in landmark ruling
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
Care to elaborate?
It's naive to think western liberal cultural change is a one-way street. This is the kind of thing that comes in waves. Just look at the radical transformation of the pre-colonial Kingdom of Buganda into present-day Uganda with its sodomy laws and internet meme pastors, perhaps ironically catalysed by the west, a west that has since flipped the complete opposite direction. It's only a matter of time before the tables…
I think you are wrong. There are minor setbacks and reactions to liberalization of society, but ultimately the trend over the past many hundreds of years has been generally toward a more equitable and accepting society almost everywhere in the world.
Also, LGBT is definitely not a small minority interest and the more accepting society becomes, the more people realize that these issues are incredibly mainstream.
Re: India court legalises gay sex in landmark ruling
#54As a gay Indian this is a great news! but it is one thing to decriminalize it legally and complete different thing for societal acceptance and leading a normal life as gay person in India. For an average gay person in India this doesn’t change much. There is still a long way to go. This law was never a problem for me but my family and relative and neighbors are. But it is a good progress.
The world is so weird. I never understood the motive behind tyrannizing other people. How is that winning at anything other than being an asshole? Why don't people just leave other people alone? Is it so much different to tyrannize a woman for being feminine, or just being attractive? Most of us are instinctively disgusted by that--or at least claim to be?
Some people feel powerful when they persecute others.
Re: India court legalises gay sex in landmark ruling
#55The headline is weird - instead of legalising, it should say "decriminalises" in my opinion. Someone made it illegal at some point. The headline now seems to indicate "we've made a new law that allows it", but that makes it like it's an exception.
No, "decriminalize" means "reduce or eliminate the penalties/enforcement for a criminal act (but it is still against the law)" while "legalize" means "make a criminal act no longer criminal (it is no longer against the law)". Oddly enough, this means that "criminalize" is not the opposite of "decriminalize" but of "legalize".
Re: India court legalises gay sex in landmark ruling
#56Irony is that a British news outlet is posting about it when they were the ones who introduced that law in India before 157 years!! Anyway, a great step in the right direction!
The people who made those laws are long dead
Re: India court legalises gay sex in landmark ruling
#57This is great, though it also illustrates how much farther India (and other countries) have to go in legal protection of LGBT people. Also, a bit off-topic here, but it also reveals how stupid and hypocritical California's policy is, forbidding travel of state employees to US states that don't grant certain protections to transgender people. You can't go to Oklahoma because they don't have self-selection for bathroom…
Umm, the Indian Supreme Court legally recognized the "third gender"; quoting from the article [1]:
"When the Indian Supreme Court acknowledged that gender is a non-binary form of identity that goes beyond male and female, the victory came as a nice surprise to many."
[2]:
"India's Supreme Court has recognised transgender people as a third gender, in a landmark ruling that may offer gay people a glimmer of hope. It is the right of every human being to choose their gender," the court said in granting rights to those who identify themselves as neither male nor female. The court ordered the government to provide transgender people with quotas in jobs and education in line with other minorities, as well as key amenities."
There are many issues that need to be fixed in India. But there are also many areas where India is far far more progressive than the US, at the very least.
And this change has been accompanied by a social movement; should be faster, but change is happening.
[1]https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-history-of-indias-t...
[2]https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/04/16/india-transgende...
Re: India court legalises gay sex in landmark ruling
#58The headline is weird - instead of legalising, it should say "decriminalises" in my opinion. Someone made it illegal at some point. The headline now seems to indicate "we've made a new law that allows it", but that makes it like it's an exception.
Legalised is more or less correct in this case. Decriminialising something means it could still be illegal, as a civil offense.
Importantly, like the US, UK and Australia, India is a "Common Law" nation. That means court rulings set binding legal precedents which can only be overruled by higher courts or actual legislation introduced later. In short: A judgement becomes law.
This is opposed to "Civil Law" societies (most of the rest) where court rulings do not set legal precedent, and might only be "persuasive" to other judges in other cases. Plenty of exceptions depending on the country, which court, etc. but that's a general overview.
Perhaps for people from Civil Law countries it would be odd to hear that a court has legalised something.
Re: India court legalises gay sex in landmark ruling
#59The headline is weird - instead of legalising, it should say "decriminalises" in my opinion. Someone made it illegal at some point. The headline now seems to indicate "we've made a new law that allows it", but that makes it like it's an exception.
No, "decriminalize" means "reduce or eliminate the penalties/enforcement for a criminal act (but it is still against the law)" while "legalize" means "make a criminal act no longer criminal (it is no longer against the law)". Oddly enough, this means that "criminalize" is not the opposite of "decriminalize" but of "legalize".
Wouldn't that depend entirely if the law was only in criminal law? If so, decriminalize would remove all of the illegality?
Re: India court legalises gay sex in landmark ruling
#60This is great, though it also illustrates how much farther India (and other countries) have to go in legal protection of LGBT people. Also, a bit off-topic here, but it also reveals how stupid and hypocritical California's policy is, forbidding travel of state employees to US states that don't grant certain protections to transgender people. You can't go to Oklahoma because they don't have self-selection for bathroom…
Holding US states to higher standards than foreign countries surely is hypocritical.