For over a century, homosexuality was considered a taboo subject in India and akin to not mentioning the name “Voldemort” in the wizarding world.
But thanks to a landmark decision by India’s Supreme Court, this is no longer an issue in 2018 as a colonial-era law criminalising consensual gay sex and homosexuality has been struck down, thus overturning over 150 years of anti-LGBTQI legislation.
The law, titled Section 377, was imposed in 1860 during Britain’s rule over India and penalised homosexual intercourse with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
This is a great day, folks, a great day.
The Supreme Court stated in its ruling that “minuscule fraction of the country’s population constitute lesbians, gays, bisexuals or transgenders” and it was therefore “legally unsustainable”.
The ruling also marks the end of what’s been a lengthy legal battle that has lasted several years. Progress was initially made back in 2009 when the Delhi High Court ruled that the ban on consensual gay sex violated the fundamental rights of a citizen, though this was quickly overturned in 2013 by the Supreme Court.
However, a 2017 ruling from the Supreme Court to uphold the constitutional right to privacy – which included the LGBTQI community – was pivotal in the push towards the latest landmark decision to overturn colonial-era anti-LGBTQI legislation.
While decriminalising homosexuality has been achieved, there’s still much more work to do as LGBTQI activists will now be focusing on the issue of equal rights.
But as they say, one baby step at a time. For now, let us just celebrate this big decision by India’s Supreme Court and bask in the taste of victory alongside the country’s LGBTQI community.