My goodness, Indians are voting in favour of same-sex marriage in a Times of India online poll. Add to that the Delhi High Court ruling that same-sex sex between consenting adults is okay, and you are blown away by the change in attitudes. The law against homosexual sex violates fundamental rights, ruled the High Court.
But the Indian government is in no rush to change the law, say news reports.
Speaking as a non-gay, I can understand the government's reluctance to be dragged into another culture war with the religious hardliners already decrying the High Court's ruling.
Still, there is no turning back the tide. Unless the High Court ruling is overturned by the Supreme Court, the law as it stands has been found unconstitutional. So it will have to be changed.
It is certainly outdated. Introduced by the British nearly 150 years ago, it is seldom enforced. I have never heard of any Oscar Wilde-like case in India. If it's not used, what's the point of having it in the law books?
The Times of India reports:
With Delhi High Court legalising gay sex, India on Thursday become the 127th country in the world to decriminalise homosexuality while 80 nations still consider it as an offence.
The process of legal sanction to homosexual acts began in 1989 when Denmark became the first country to grant a status on a par with married couples to same sex partners which was soon followed by other European countries.
Netherlands became the first nation to give full civil marriage rights to gay couples in 2001. Belgium allowed gay marriages in 2003. Spain too legalised full marriages for gay couples in June 2005.
In July 2005, Canada legalised same-sex marriage. New Zealand in 2004 recognised civil union between gay couples as valid and same sex union was recognised in 2005 in South Africa.
I was surprised to find homosexual acts (between males) are still illegal in Singapore. They are legal in Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Indonesia (except in Aceh), East Timor and the Philippines but not in Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore and Myanmar, according to Wikipedia.
GayLawNet says:
In October 2007, the Singapore government declared that private, consensual, adult homosexual sex would no longer be prosecuted but that its illegality would remain.
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