Will India accept gay couples?
“Freaking unbelievable. Absolutely speechless!” Gay rights activists in India have been posting congratulatory messages on blogs and Twitter ever since the Delhi High Court on Thursday ruled gay sex was not a crime. human rights.
Some see the ruling as crucial for the country’s battle against HIV/AIDS.
India has the world’s second highest HIV/AIDS caseload and gay advocacy groups say fear of persecution by law enforcement agencies often leaves homosexuals without easy access to health information and preventive care, rendering them more vulnerable to infection.
The gay sex debate and repealing of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code that makes “unnatural sex” a punishable offence will have wide- ranging implications in the months to come.
But it’s difficult to predict whether conservative Indians would change their perception of the gay community.
India has traditionally been a study in curious contradictions that are deeply interwoven in its social fabric through centuries. If it is embracing and tolerant of alien customs, it is also proud and conservative of its own.
Visitors to the ancient temples of Khajuraho, built in the 10th century, would find homosexual couples immortalised in its stone carvings.
Delhi judge backs MF Husain, says “ignorant people vandalise art”
The Delhi High Court issued a strong judgement on Thursday in support of one of India’s leading painters MF Husain, who has been forced into exile after a painting of Mother India as a naked woman was accused of hurting religious sentiments.
Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul made no bones about how he felt about the issue.
“It is most unfortunate that India’s new ‘puritanism’ is being carried out in the name of cultural purity and ignorant people vandalise art,” the Times of India quoted him as saying.
The high court found nothing wrong in Husain’s work and said art, both ancient and modern, had always used nudity.
“We have been called the land of Karma Sutra then why is it that in this land we shy away from its very name,” he said.
“Ancient art has never been devoid of eroticism where sex worship and representation of the union between man and woman has been a recurring feature.”
It remains to be seen if the 90-year-old Husain will ever return home, but Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen decided enough was enough earlier this year and decided to leave India.
I am a fan of M F Hussain but not a blind one like Justice Kaul. M F Hussain is to be blamed for his actions as he went overboard. Few paintings were never noticed but his madness in painting many many more made people to notice – and a feeling of deliberate ‘mischeif’ by the painter spread like bush fire. India is changing fast, communication is instant and people have begun to think more. This may be a good thing or bad – time will tell. But it would be a great mistake to brand everyone who protests to be part of ‘puritanist ignorant crowd’. I am shocked and bemused. Here we go again another elitist judgement blaming ‘cultural puritanists’. I only warn people in high position to think and think seriously – every one is not a fundamentalist but such judgement can tilt the balance. How come baning ‘Satanic Verses ‘ and Da Vinci Code’ were justified? Please visit my Blog. http://justarrival.blogspot.com/2008/05/ judgement-with-health-warning.htmlName – Navin Joshi
The government has no business interfering in people’s lives. Homosexuality is just the way people are and they should be allowed to live freely and with all rights awarded to heterosexual couples.