Do away with anti-gay laws

Much as India claims it is globalising, there is enough evidence to show that on a range of social issues it remains locked in medieval mode, unable or unwilling to move in step with the rest of the world. Nowhere does this dichotomy show up more than our attitudes towards homosexuality, which is perceived as something alien to “our culture” and therefore to be stamped out.

This issue is in sharp focus because of the arrest of four young men in Lucknow for allegedly indulging in sex at a picnic spot. They have been booked under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, an antiquated 1860 law which criminalises any sex that is “against the law of nature”, usually taken to mean sodomy. This leaves its interpretation wide open and the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community in India claims that this law is constantly abused by the police.

In this particular instance, say gay activists, the arrested men were victims of a cheap sting operation, because one of them was used to lure the others to a hotel from where they were picked up. The gay community all over the country is outraged, especially at the manner in which the police allegedly used a chat room to set up the first youth and then ensnared the other three. This would not have happened if the law was not heavily weighed against gays.

This case comes in the wake of the tragic case in Meerut where a woman consumed poison after there was outrage over their “marriage” in the town. The families of the two girls, the local Shiv Sena unit as well as the police—which recently beat up innocent heterosexual couples in a public park—came down heavily on the women for their “anti-social behaviour”.

Clearly, a large section of Indian society is still uncomfortable at the very idea of homosexuality, though the idea itself is not alien to those familiar with Indian culture. But that is not the only argument to consider modifying, even doing away with, section 377. The matter has to be seen as one of personal freedom and of civil liberties.

The world over, gay rights have been recognised as akin to fundamental rights and some countries have even legitimised same-sex marriages. In India, we are celebrating our entry into the global community, but continue with regressive socio-cultural ideas. This is unacceptable, more so if it curtails the rights of our fellow Indians.