The constitution of India begins “We, the people of India”. Nowhere does it say “We the people with exceptions…” . So I cannot figure out at what point the Government of India decided that a complete section of people can be excepted from constitutional protection. I read this article in the “Times of India” which deals with the court case being heard in the New Delhi High Court. A group of activists has requested a change to Section377, specifically a :

toning down of the act to legalize private consensual sex between consenting adults.(Ed emphasis added)

Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code is legislation introduced during British Rule in India which reads in part:

Unnatural offences 377. Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.

( Image from npr.org)

This was a legacy of Lord Macaulay- who , ironically, in one of his better moments also said:

We are free, we are civilised, to little purpose, if we grudge to any portion of the human race an equal measure of freedom and civilisation

I wonder what he would have thought of the Government of India’s position, as was declared by the additional Solicitor general PP Malhotra in open court:

“Homosexuality is a social vice and the state has the power to contain it,” he contended. “It (decriminalizing homosexuality) may create breach of peace. If it is allowed then evils of AIDS and HIV would further spread and harm the people. It would lead to big health hazard. It would degrade moral values of the society,” the ASG maintained………Countering the contentions of activists, the government said such behaviour is not a natural trait but a reflection of a perverse mind.

Malhotra was evidently trying to cram as many errors as he could in a couple of sentences.Homosexuality -as the rest of the civilized world ought to know by now is not a social vice of any kind. The Government of India has no business in spreading lies and misinformation about AIDS and HIV- especially not when considering the fact that over 2.4 million people in India suffer from AIDS and

Infection rates soared throughout the 1990s, and today the epidemic affects all sectors of Indian society, not just the groups – such as sex workers and truck drivers – with which it was originally associated.(link)

The British left India over 60 years ago – the law remains. It has been used repeatedly to persecute homosexuals – particularly gay men. The Indian police has been notorious for cracking down on events such as private parties held for and by gays or social clubs (link). Meanwhile the rest of the country goes to hell – education, shelter, drinking water and primary healthcare is still a distant dream for most. The Government is too busy monitoring what people do in the privacy of their bedrooms!

Its not just in faraway, third-world India that such discrimination backed by Government support exists. Last I checked, the Constitution of the USA too begins “We the people..” . Yet out here in California , ballots will soon be cast for and against Proposition 8, which eliminates the rights of same sex couples to marry. This is in response to the May 15,2008 ruling of the California Supreme Court that ruled unconstitutional previous attempts to legislate against gay marriage. The state has been processing same sex marriage licenses since then. Proposition 8, if it passes, will once again make gay marriages impossible and leave those same-sex marriages already formalized in a legal limbo.

Several organizations and individuals support the “No on Prop 8″ campaign which has begun an advertising campaign featuring families of gays and lesbians, urging the people of California to let their sons and daughters have the same rights as everyone else. (Further irony: State Senator William “Pete” Knight, was the author of the original Proposition 22 that banned same-sex marriage and was invalidated by the May 15 ruling. Senator Knight’s son, Dave Knight, wed his partner of 10 years in a same sex union in March (link) )

Trikone is a non-profit organization that works with gay, lesbian and transgendered persons of South Asian descent. Trikone has joined the fight against Prop 8 and plans to run an ad featuring a desi parent who has a gay son in the next issue of “India Currents”.(link)

In the ad, Mrs.Gurkripal Singh Dhillon – looking like every desi auntie I ever knew says

” …Our desi traditions have flourished with my son, Inder and his partner, Ken”

Take a look at her two cute grandkids – how can the government deny them the right to have married parents?

And in case you are still against gay marriage – here is a thought :

No one is forcing you to have one.

Why are you denying a section of society which is voluntarily accepting the rights and obligations of marriage the same opportunities as the rest of us to either make a grand success or a miserable failure of it?

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