Year after India gay ruling, a battle to change attitudes

GURAGON — Vivek Kishore and Vishwa Srivastava hit it off soon after meeting at a cafe, little knowing what lay in store for them as a gay couple in India where homosexuality was a criminal offense until a year ago.

The couple’s worst fears came true when they were slapped, abused, and threatened with police action by none other than Kishore’s parents, who found out they were living together.


But life changed for the duo a year ago on Friday when India’s Supreme Court overturned a British colonial-era law that had criminalized gay sex as “against the order of nature”.

Hundreds of people had been prosecuted under the law, known as Section 377, which was often used to threaten, abuse, and blackmail members of the LGBTQ community.

“It was huge, it was like getting independence… My immediate thought was both of us can have sex, that’s not criminal anymore,” Kishore gushed.

“Legally there is nothing that my homophobic family can do now against me,” the 24-year-old said, locking eyes and toes with his partner at their home in Gurgaon on the outskirts of New Delhi.

Battle for equality

The decades-long legal fight to legalize gay sex began in India in the 1990s when arranged marriages were the norm, with families carefully choosing a partner for their children from the same religion, caste, and status.

The community won a big reprieve in 2009 when the Delhi High Court ruled that the law could not be applied to consensual sex.

But orthodox Hindu, Muslim, and Christian groups challenged it in the Supreme Court, which then restored the law in 2013.

The LGBTQ community, however, refused to give up and in 2016 a group of high-profile petitioners including a gay dancer and a chef again approached the Supreme Court.

They were joined by others and the court began hearing emotional arguments from a community long ostracized in a country that remains socially conservative.

“It’s very important that people who have a voice should use it because it’s not easy (to come out),” said Anjali Gopalan, one of the petitioners and a gay rights activist.

Attitudes

Gopalan, however, admitted that just scrapping the law on September 6, 2018 was not enough and that the real change would only come when regressive attitudes change.

In the past year, there have been tentative signs that Indian society is becoming more relaxed about homosexuality.

Gay characters have featured in a popular online series as well as a Bollywood film, while more restaurants and cafes are declaring themselves gay-friendly.

In May, sprinter Dutee Chand became a trailblazer by becoming the first Indian athlete to reveal she is in a same-sex relationship.

Pride marches were held across India with much gusto in June as students and members of the civil society joined to show their solidarity to the community.

Colorful wedding

Kishore and Srivastava got married in a colorful Hindu ceremony in 2017, even before Section 377 was scrapped, but their union has no legal standing.


“Our life is like any other straight couple but still we can’t claim any spousal benefits like healthcare and property rights,” said Srivastava, an educator. “If one of us, heaven forbid, dies then we can’t even claim each other’s bodies. It’s so disturbing.”

Srivastava’s mother, Priti, has stood by him in his quest for rights, braving barbs from relatives and nosy neighbors.

“The law may have gone but the social stigma is still there. I try not to worry about what people are saying behind my back but I know they are,” she said.

“But if you show you don’t care if your child is gay or not, then others also don’t care.” /kga

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Taiwan’s gay marriage ruling raises hopes across Asia

BEIJING—Taiwan’s giant step towards allowing same-sex marriage has reverberated across Asia, but activists warn the fight for equality isn’t over in a region where gay sex remains illegal in some countries.

Challenges to an Asia-wide embrace of same-sex unions were highlighted by this week’s caning of two Indonesian men as punishment for gay sex and a South Korean military court’s jailing of a soldier for having intercourse with another man.

In mainland China, two men lost a court battle to get married last year.

But activists are hopeful that the push for marriage rights will be reinvigorated by Taiwan’s constitutional court decision, which paves the way for the island to become the first place in Asia to allow same-sex couples to tie the knot.

The court ruled Wednesday that laws preventing same-sex unions violated the constitution’s guarantees of freedom of marriage and gave the government two years to implement the decision.

“We’re very happy,” said Vuong Kha Phong, a rights assistant at iSEE advocacy group in Vietnam. “This is a historic victory for the LGBT groups in Asia.”

The first domino?

Gay marriage is currently legal in only around 20 countries around the world, 13 of which are in Europe. New Zealand also allows same-sex couples to legally marry.

Taiwan is seen as one of the most progressive societies in Asia when it comes to gay rights.

“While I think it is still a long way to the equality dominos falling all over Asia, I think a few East Asian countries, such as Japan and Vietnam, may be more ready to consider equality legislation,” Ray Chan, Hong Kong’s first openly gay lawmaker, told Agence France-Presse.

“I can foresee many couples in Hong Kong will try to get married in Taiwan. When they return home, they will press the government and even the private sector for recognizing them because the current laws, policies, and rules are blatantly discriminatory.”

In Vietnam, which is seen as socially progressive on LGBT issues and where a vibrant gay scene flourishes online and in some big cities, hopes for marriage reform have stalled.

But iSEE’s Phong said the Taiwan ruling “will give us momentum to mobilize the community to take action — to do something so that gay marriage can be considered when lawmakers discuss changing the marriage law in 2020.”

Gay activists in China expressed optimism that their country’s cultural connections with Taiwan could help their efforts to change the law on same-sex nuptials.

Homosexuality was officially decriminalized in 1997 but only taken off the list of psychiatric disorders four years later.

“Taiwan and mainland China have the same roots and culture so it suggests that Chinese society could also accept the idea of gay marriage,” said Li Yinhe, a renowned Chinese sexologist who has pressed Beijing policymakers on the issue.

There have been small signs of progress. While a Chinese court last year ruled against two men seeking to marry, the fact the case even made it into the judicial system was seen by many as an achievement.

“I am very happy and very excited that homosexual marriage is legalized in Taiwan. It’s a pity that the mainland has not taken this step,” said Sun Wenlin, one of the men in the case.

“But I’m optimistic about the legalization of same-sex marriage in China.”

Elisabeth Lund Engebretsen, a senior lecturer at the University of Oslo’s Centre for Gender Research, said Taiwan’s court ruling “creates a momentum for putting this on the table as a political issue” in Asia.

Gay sex illegal

South Korea allows homosexual acts between civilians but not military personnel and a high-profile legal challenge to the country’s ban on same-sex marriage in 2015 by movie director Kim Jho Gwang-Soo and his long-time partner Kim Seung-Hwan failed.

“People say that it’s too early for our society to handle but I think if there is an open debate about the troubles of sexual minorities then I hope South Korean society can also walk a similar path,” said Lee Na-Ra from Solidarity for LGBT Human Rights of Korea.

Before they can consider marriage, activists must win other battles in places such as India, Singapore and Indonesia’s Aceh province, where gay sex is still outlawed.

“Legally we are not even pressing for gay marriage now. We are being denied our fundamental right,” said Manvendra Singh Gohil, one of India’s most vocal gay rights activists. “We have to go step by step.”/rga

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Indonesia’s top court hears case on criminalizing gay sex

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesia’s Constitutional Court is considering whether to criminalize gay sex after accepting a judicial review petition from Islamic activists.

A group calling itself the Family Love Alliance says an existing law that criminalizes sex between adults and minors of the same gender should be amended to also apply to sexual acts between adults of the same gender.

Rita Hendrawaty, chairwoman of the group, said Wednesday it was not trying to criminalize lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

Experts presented by the group at a hearing on Tuesday testified that homosexuality was inherently immoral and went against Indonesia’s state ideology.

Indonesia’s image for tolerance and moderation has been tested this year by a campaign of denigration against LGBT people. TVJ

source: lifestyle.inquirer.net