IPC 377

Section 377 of Indian Penal Code, which criminalizes sexual intercourse in Indian made a buzz again. This section was declared unconstitutional and decriminalized sex between consenting lesbians and gays by Delhi High Court on 24th July 2009. That judgement was overruled by the Supreme Court of India. And it advocated that the amendment of constitution is a matter of parliament and not of Judiciary.  Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man or women or animal shall be sue under law with life imprisonment or for a term of ten years and also be liable to fine. This verdict has met support of religious leaders but made human right and gay right activists angry.

Religious leaders and people against homo sexuality were unanimously agreed t the verdict of Supreme Court. They asserted that the concept of homo sexuality is against Indian culture, science and nature. And one of them argued that he can cure this tendency with yoga.  People cannot consider themselves to be exclusive of society. They also put forward questions of reproduction and future generation. These same sex couples’ successors will grow up with a skewed vision of life, family and ethics.

The civil liberty unions and gay sex activists made counter arguments also.  To them the verdict is barbaric, medieval and homophobic religious attitude.  When we talk about LGBT issues, we should not confined to the sexual matters, but we  have to keep an open eye  on larger implications of basic, civil, political and socio-economic rights. By this verdict the constitution itself brands its citizen as criminals. This may cause a social exclusion of LGBT
community from mainstream. These people are not demanding for anything additional to the rights that the rests are enjoying.

Though there is notions about health and HIV and consider it as a conflict between the cosmos of material success and that of values, we cannot simply deny the fact that the gays and lesbians exist around us and no legislation would be able to change their sexual orientation weather it is inborn trait or matter of choice.