Indian court decriminalizes consensual gay sex

[polsongrizz]

Indian court decriminalizes consensual gay sex
AP

NEW DELHI – A court ruled Thursday to decriminalize homosexuality in the Indian capital, a groundbreaking decision that could bring more freedom to gays in this deeply conservative country.

The Delhi High Court ruled that treating consensual gay sex as a crime is a violation of fundamental rights protected by India's constitution. The ruling, the first of its kind in India, applies only in New Delhi.

"I'm so excited, and I haven't been able to process the news yet," Anjali Gopalan, the executive director of the Naz Foundation (India) Trust, a sexual health organization that had filed the petition, told reporters. "We've finally entered the 21st century."

But some religious leaders quickly criticized the ruling. "This Western culture cannot be permitted in our country," said Maulana Khalid Rashid Farangi Mahali, a leading Muslim cleric in the northern city of Lucknow.

The court's verdict came more than eight years after the New Delhi-based foundation filed its petition — not unusually long in India's notoriously clogged court system. The verdict can be challenged in India's Supreme Court.

Sex between people of the same gender has been illegal in India since a British colonial era law that classified it as "against the order of nature." According to the law, gay sex is punishable by 10 years in prison. While actual criminal prosecutions are few, the law frequently has been used to harass people.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090702/ap_ ... gay_rights

[TwinTownBisonFan]

da-dow...

and there is dancing (fabulous, fabulous dancing) on the streets of Delhi... (if you thought Bollywood had production numbers before... you aint seen nothin yet!)

[bobbythekidd]

Fabulous dancing in Delhi you say??

[youtube][/youtube]

[dbackjon]

Great news.

And get a clue, Muslim cleric - there are as many gays in Muslim countries as anywhere else...