Well, it was high time. By quashing section 377 the Delhi High Court has given a ray of hope to the citizens of the country: good things happen here too, it’s not just about politics, religion, racketeering and money-making. The law against consensual gay and lesbian sex was enacted by the British way back in 1860 and it has long been abolished by the British themselves in their own country.
I don’t think there is much social opposition in India, and it was just due to laziness and nonchalance. We Indians are the epitome of the “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” attitude.
Personally I feel the ancient liberal sexual practices in India are way overrated but yes, we were already indulging in libidinous exercises of byzantine complexities while in other civilizations they were mostly doing the doggy sex behind the bushes. In fact we have had many androgynous gods having sex with themselves and in fact such tendencies were as normal as giving a peck of familiarity to a total stranger in a page-3 party.
So does it solve the harassment problem for gays and lesbians? Hardly. Harassing and annoying people is our cultural obsession and it has got nothing to do with your sexuality. In India you can be harassed for being a woman, a child, a disabled, a poor person, a person with no connections, a minority, a majority, a tourist, a dog, a cow, a buffaloe, I mean, you can be harassed just because you exist, even if you’re a stone. The local policeman will kick you in the butt even before you can utter “human rights”. So forget a harassment-free life. But yes, it’s a progressive step. Some blokes will challenge it in the Supreme Court, but there is a fat chance the apex dudes will reverse the judgment.
Of course protests will come from religious quarters. Take for instance this moronic outburst by the Sikh clergy:
A member of radical Sikh group Dal Khalsa said on condition of anonymity: “This day should be remembered as a ‘black day’ in the history of mankind. We are unable to understand that how our judiciary can push the whole humanity towards deterioration, just to make a handful of eccentric and wayward individuals happy.
I mean, a “black day”? So much shit happens around us, and they call this a “black day”? Anyway, this is just the beginning of religious looniness on this subject. Reactions from the mullahs and Bajrang dalis will be eagerly awaited.
