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Visit http://www.garcabranca.com for details/booking/confirmation. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Abolish Section 377 by V. M. de Malar (From O Heraldo, Sept 20) "I do not believe that a law that turns at least 50 million otherwise law-abiding Indians into criminals can be a low priority," declared Vir Sanghvi as he appended his signature to a high-profile open letter that's making headlines across India. The celebrity editor of the Hindustan Times joined a huge coalition that's opposed to the colonial-era Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code which punitively criminalizes a range of sexual behaviour, including entirely private homosexual acts between consenting adults. Other prominent campaigners include the bestselling author Vikram Seth, Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen, freedom fighter Captain Lakhsmi Sahgal, Christian activist John Dayal, media figures of Goan descent Rajdeep Sardesai and Dileep Padgaonkar, and dozens of other big names from across the political and intellectual spectrum. Sanghvi editorialized succinctly– "as long as Section 377 exists, as long as we fall back on the colonial law book to discriminate against our own citizens, and as long as we deny a fundamental human right to a large section of our people, we lower ourselves as a nation." The open letter testifies similarly, "this archaic and brutal law has served no good purpose. It has been used to systematically persecute, blackmail, arrest and terrorize sexual minorities….forcing tens of millions of gay and bisexual men and women to live in fear and secrecy, at tragic cost to themselves and their families…such human rights abuses would be a cause for shame anywhere in the modern world, but they are especially so in India, which was founded on a vision of fundamental rights applying equally to all, without discrimination on any grounds." It's all so straightforward. Section 377 is so obviously hateful and unfair that the matter should be settled without any controversy. After all, India is not particularly puritanical, this culture has never been prudish or naïve about the entire spectrum of sexual behaviour. Evidence of this wise acceptance is everywhere, from erotic temple carvings to tracts like the Kama Sutra. In addition, Indian society has always retained a function and place for homosexuals, there has always been a bedrock understanding of the scientific truth that homosexuality is part of nature, that a proportion of individuals are simply born that way. Homosexual behaviour is widely observed in the natural world – from penguins to monkeys to parrots – the sagacious, tolerant Indian has generally tended to accept this fact better than Western fanatics. So why does Section 377 matter? Why not simply continue to ignore it? Because the government has issued reactionary statements in defending it, including sinister language about "public morality" and "universally accepted behaviour." Because policing morality is a dangerous business – today it is two men being victimized in the privacy of their bedroom, tomorrow it could be you or me being victimized on the dancefloor, at the taverna, or in any number of situations that the government should not be bothered about. Most importantly, as Amartya Sen says, "it gives the police and other law enforcement officers huge power to harass and victimize." This is what is happening. Section 377 is only ever used to persecute and blackmail, and it is the most powerless who pay the price. That hard-working son of Goa, Wendell Rodricks, is calling for 377 to be amended, but he's swift to point out that Goa is quite enlightened and open-minded about sexuality, especially when compared to the rest of India. Still, he found a storm of controversy envelope him, and his life partner of more than 20 years, Frenchman Jerome Marrel, when the devoted couple publicly celebrated the signing of a French document that confirms their legal status as partners and beneficiaries." "It's about love," says Wendell, it's for Septabout a "relationship of respect" between partners and also within society. Section 377 was written in 1861, the same year a bloody Civil War was launched to ensure that black Americans got the same rights as other citizens. And we've had almost 150 years of arbitrary, unjust and immoral criminalization of our brothers and sisters for no fault of their own. That's more than long enough, Section 377 should be scrapped as soon as possible. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/attachments/20060921/38e1e089/attachment.htm _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list Goanet@lists.goanet.org http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org