http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100714/jsp/opinion/story_12680941.jsp
*LIVE AND LET LOVE* A year after the Delhi High Court handed down a landmark judgement to decriminalise homosexuality, Tripti Nath finds out if the ruling has changed the lives of the gay community FREEDOM SONG: Members of the LGBT community in Delhi celebrate the first anniversary of the Delhi High Court ruling On July 2 gay pride marches were held in Delhi and Mumbai to celebrate the first anniversary of the historic ruling by the Delhi High Court that decriminalised sexual relations between consenting adults of the same sex. Though widely hailed as a progressive and landmark judgement, one year after the ruling members of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community wonder whether it has changed anything on the ground. In April this year, Sreenivas Siras, a homosexual and a professor of Aligarh Muslim University, died under mysterious circumstances. He was hounded by the authorities for his sexual orientation and suspended. A week prior to his death, the Allahabad High Court had stayed the suspension and ordered his reinstatement. Siras, who had worked for two decades at the university, had said in an interview, “I love the university. I wonder if they have stopped loving me because I am gay.’’ Again, Ashley Tellis, a professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad, was summarily dismissed last month allegedly because of his sexual leanings. Pratibimb, a gay rights organisation, has demanded that IIT reinstate him with an unconditional apology. Tellis has filed an application under the Right to Information Act, seeking the reasons for his sudden termination. Of course, it was hardly to be expected that society’s attitude towards homosexuals would change overnight because of the Delhi High Court judgement. But what is causing anxiety to the LGBT community is the fact that it cannot press for other crucial rights till the Supreme Court delivers a final judgement on Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code that outlawed homosexuality in the country. Right now as many as 18 appeals challenging the Delhi High Court order are pending in the Supreme Court. Says Aditya Bondyopadhyay, a lawyer and activist who was at the forefront of the campaign to scrap Section 377, “Our hands are tied till the Supreme Court pronounces a final verdict in this matter. As things stand, we can’t advocate partnership rights, the right to taking joint property loans, medical visitation rights, right to maintenance, right to inheritance of property or right to division of property in case of separation.’’ Even so, many in the LGBT community feel that the Delhi High Court ruling has helped their cause considerably. Ashok Row Kavi, chairperson of Humsafar Trust, an advocacy group for sexual minorities, says that the ruling has been quoted all over the world as a perfect human rights document. “The Delhi High Court judgement is so watertight and well worded that it would be extremely difficult to overturn it. Gays are no longer afraid of harassment and violence and can stand up to exploitation. But there has been a backlash from the mainstream heterosexual society against LGBT persons.’’ Bondyopadhyay too says that though the police continue to harass gays, the latter are no longer afraid to stand up for their rights. “Section 377 gave the police the unchallenged right to harass people. The Delhi High Court ruling has taken away that right. Earlier, policemen would go to gay social spaces and abuse Section 377 by threatening and blackmailing them with arrest. If the gay community refused to pay up, policemen would demand sexual favours. If they got neither sex nor money, they would find ways to justify arrest by invoking other criminal law provisions such as those in the Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Act.” But post the ruling, says Bondyopadhyay, gays have found the courage to tell the police to back off. “Harassment and illegal detentions have reduced. Social spaces too are opening up. For example, many night clubs have been announcing gay nights.” In yet another welcome development, a number of companies such as Infosys, Indian Hotels which runs the Taj group, ITC, the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group and Hindustan Unilever have included non-harassment of LGBT persons in their workplace policy. Bondyopadhyay, who keeps a close watch on cases of discrimination against the LGBT community, says, “Although more than a dozen religious groups are ranged against the ruling, the fact remains that India is a secular country. Let us not lose sight of the fact that we are governed by a Constitutional order where the religious sentiments or values of any religion cannot be imposed on anybody. The only moral plane that should be uniformly applied is that of Constitutional morality which deals with the values of equality, non- discrimination and personal dignity.’’ However, though the Delhi High Court has brought about some positive changes in the lives of the gay community, some feel that discussions on lesbians are still taboo. Pramada Menon, lesbian and feminist, agrees that the Delhi High Court ruling has enabled gay people to seek justice. “But the voices of lesbians continue to remain unheard. What’s heartening is that the ruling has opened up the discourse in universities where issues of sexuality were never talked about at all,” says Menon. “But merely changing the law is not enough. Society has to understand that homosexuals are persons who are going about their lives just like anybody else,’’ she adds. That understanding will, one hopes, come about sooner than later.
