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India court legalises gay sex in landmark ruling

bbc.com

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Re: India court legalises gay sex in landmark ruling

#71

Post by bildung »

krylon wrote: post #13
thomasfedb wrote: post #2

The phrase "legalises gay sex" is surreal and otherworldly to me. We recent fought for marriage in Australia. Shocking to think they were and are still so backwards as to make that headline possible.

In Germany, the infamous §175a StGB that made gay sex illegal was only finally removed in 1994. I think it was practically ignored for some time before that, but that was only 24 years ago. And yes, it feels just as unreal to me.

Just a note: In the former GDR it was legal since its inception in 1949. It was only illegal in West Germany.

Re: India court legalises gay sex in landmark ruling

#73

Post by patrickg_zill »

The concept of only a few deciding on societal mores, which we also saw in the US, should be seen as a real problem, even if you agree with the position of the "black-robed tyrants"...

A vigorous debate in society, which should have occurred, has been short-circuited.

Re: India court legalises gay sex in landmark ruling

#75

Post by tobyhinloopen »

Dawny33 wrote: post #17
xrisk wrote: post #6

Note that same sex marriage is still not legalised! We still have a long way to go before the idea of a same-sex couple becomes commonplace in our society.

Wait. Gay sex is legalized, but not marriage. That's so un-Indian-like

Sex with a toy is legal, but you can't marry a toy.

Re: India court legalises gay sex in landmark ruling

#76

Post by voltooid »

lucozade wrote: post #37
voltooid wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is more history to this. The introduction of the law relating to making gay sex illegal "... dating back to 1861, (that was) introduced during the British rule of India (modelled on the Buggery Act of 1533) criminalised sexual activities "against the order of nature", including homosexual activities" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_377_of_the_Indian_Pena... It is the truth for a lot of countries that were…

> It is simple and lazy to label something "backward". Couldn't agree more. Having said that, I'm not sure the "blame the colonials" is vastly better. For at least 2 reasons: 1) One of the laws the Penal Code replaced required death by stoning as a punishment (unless you were a slave in which case you were just flogged). As poor as the law was, it wasn't really replacing an enlightened legal framework. 2) Post-coloni…

You make a good point.

It is simplistic and lazy to blame the colonials for all the ills of a society too. But the slow progress in fixing something like this is not so much because of a backwards attitude. Nation building takes time. Especially when things around the world are changing fast. There is a long long way to go. And it is definitely going to take a very long time getting there. Especially because there are way too many issues that need the attention of an already strained legal system.

Re: India court legalises gay sex in landmark ruling

#77

Post by sbmthakur »

This is a welcome step. It was good to see the Government not being a road-block in this case[1]. Hopefully, future decisions which make life easier for LGBT folks will be taken in the Parliament and Legislative Assemblies instead of courtrooms.

1. https://blogs.economictimes.indiatimes.com/et-commentary/sec...

Re: India court legalises gay sex in landmark ruling

#78

Post by vinni2 »

wallace_f wrote: post #42
vinni2 wrote: post #35

As 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?

I think it comes down to their own definition of being “normal” for someone. I think it is this attitude of “if they are not like me or do not meet my definition of normal they should be tyrannized” is the problem. It also has to do with not having seen examples of such people leading normal life.

Re: India court legalises gay sex in landmark ruling

#79

Post by skocznymroczny »

wallace_f wrote: post #42
vinni2 wrote: post #35

As 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?

How about tyrannizing "far-right fascists"? Anti-abortion folks?

Re: India court legalises gay sex in landmark ruling

#80

Post by majewsky »

gdfasfklshg4 wrote: post #68
nextstep wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I think you should study history related to gay rights over the last few centuries. Whilst we are currently in a better situation in many western countries the course of change has been anything but a smooth set of improvements.

Where did you see GP implying a "smooth set of improvements"? They're explicitly talking about the big picture.
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