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Showing posts with label homosexuality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label homosexuality. Show all posts
Saturday, December 28, 2013
Posted in: Thursday, December 26, 2013
Bangalore on Homosexuality
"We walked around Bangalore and asked people what they thought about homosexuality." Bangalore is India's third largest city and has about the same population as New York City.
Saturday, December 21, 2013
INDIA: Government Asks Supreme Court To Review Anti-Homosexuality Law
The Indian government yesterday petitioned the Supreme Court to review its decision to reinstate the criminalization of homosexuality.
The government asked the court to review its order saying it believed it "violated the principle of equality". There has been outrage over the ruling seen as a huge blow to gay rights. There have been street protests and many activists and even government ministers have criticised it. "The government has filed the review petition on Section 377 in the Supreme Court today. Let's hope the right to personal choices is preserved," Law Minister Kapil Sibal tweeted on Friday. In its petition filed in the Supreme Court, the government says "the position of the central government on this issue has been that the Delhi High Court verdict... is correct". The Supreme Court's earlier order was widely criticised in India. The president of the ruling Congress party Sonia Gandhi described it as "an archaic, unjust law" and Finance Minister P Chidambaram said the ruling had taken India "back to 1860".Very encouraging.
Friday, December 20, 2013
From The Ugandan Government Website
The Anti-Homosexuality Bill, 2009 seeks to establish a comprehensive consolidated legislation to protect the traditional family by prohibiting any form of sexual relations between persons of the same sex; and the promotion or recognition of such sexual relations in public institutions and other places through or with the support of any government entity in Uganda or any other non governmental organization inside or outside the country. The Committee on Legal and Parliamentary Affairs said in its Report, “The Bill aims at strengthening the nation’s capacity to deal with emerging internal and external threats to the traditional heterosexual family.” The Committee also said that there is need to protect the children and youth of Uganda who are vulnerable to sexual abuse and deviations as a result of cultural changes, uncensored information technologies, parentless child development settings and increasing attempts by homosexuals to raise children in homosexual relationships through adoption and foster care. The Anti Homosexuality Bill provides a fourteen year jail term for one convicted for the offence of homosexuality; and imprisonment for life for the offence of aggravated homosexuality.
HRC Denounces Uganda's Anti-Gay Bill
Uganda MPs Approve Life In Prison For Homosexuality, Citizens Must Report Gays Or Be Jailed Themselves
Uganda's parliament has passed a bill to toughen the punishment for homosexual acts to include life imprisonment in some cases. The anti-homosexuality bill also makes it a crime punishable by a prison sentence not to report gay people. The prime minister opposed the vote, saying not enough MPs were present. The bill has been condemned by world leaders since it was mooted in 2009 - US President Barack Obama called it "odious". The BBC's Catherine Byaruhanga in Kampala says the government knows there will be an international outcry, which could see some countries suspend aid to the country. She says that Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi might follow up on his complaints about a lack of quorum, while it remains to be seen whether President Yoweri Museveni will sign the bill into law.
The bill will make it illegal to 'promote' homosexuality and will also jail anyone who does not report homosexual activities to the police. Ugandan LGBTI people are said to be 'panicked' and 'afraid for their lives'. It has already been predicted it will lead to more deaths in the LGBTI community. Members of Parliament (MPs) heard every clause in the Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009. But debate which was expected to run all day was over very quickly. The bill is now an act of parliament and is just awaiting a signature from President Yoweri Museveni, which could happen as early as tomorrow. Uganda LGBTI activist Frank Mugisha said he was in ‘total shock’, saying the motion had caught every gay rights advocate off guard. He said Kadaga, who promised last year to make the bill law as a ‘Christmas present’ to the nation, had been ‘cleaning up’ any shelved legislation.Stand by for victory laps by Peter LaBarbera, Scott Lively, and Bryan Fischer.
Monday, December 16, 2013
US Hate Group Cheers Indian Ruling
RELATED: Early this year an attorney for Alliance Defending Freedom was convicted on eight felony counts of making child pornography with her daughter. She was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
Friday, December 13, 2013
Editorial Of THe Day
From the New York Times editorial board:
The court’s statement inviting the Legislature to amend the law is disingenuous. Given the fractious nature of India’s Parliament, the conservative views of many of its members, and the political stakes in the run-up to general elections next spring, the Legislature is unlikely to take up this issue on its own. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh now has an opportunity to leave a lasting legacy of progress before his government steps down next spring. His cabinet should act immediately to seek a repeal of Section 377. This 1861 law has no place in a 21st-century democracy.
Indian AG Denounces Ruling
Thursday, December 12, 2013
INDIA: Top Politicians Vow To Repeal Law Against Homosexuality
In the wake of yesterday's shocking recriminalization of homosexuality by the Indian Supreme Court, politicians there today vowed to repeal the law legislatively.
"We will have to change the law. If the Supreme Court has upheld that law, then we will certainly have to take firm steps," Thursday. "Change has to be made fast, and any delay cannot take place." Sibal's comments were echoed by other government officials. Sonia Gandhi, the head of the ruling Congress Party, who is among the most powerful political figures in the country, said Thursday she was disappointed by the Supreme Court's ruling, adding she hopes "Parliament will address the issue and uphold the constitutional guarantee of life and liberty to all citizens of India, including those directly affected by the judgment." The main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, fresh off massive wins in state elections last week, refused to comment on the ruling, "react when we see the government's proposal." The BJP is seen as a front-runner ahead of next year's national elections.
Updated Map: India Rejoins 76 Other Nations That Criminalize Homosexuality
The news that India has re-criminalized homosexual acts has come as a blow to the worldwide LGBT movement. Roughly 16% of the world's total population — 1.2 billion people — live in the South Asian state. But India isn't alone in considering homosexual acts a crime. According to the 2013 report from the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, 76 countries (plus India) have laws making homosexuality illegal. In five of these countries — Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Mauritania, Sudan — plus parts of Nigeria and Somalia, homosexuality is punishable by death. Additionally, there are a number of countries where homosexuality is not illegal but laws exist that seriously restrict homosexuality — most famously, Russia, which enacted a law that prohibited homosexual "propaganda" last year.And let's not forget that Uganda's "kill the gays" bill remains pending. The full list of the countries on the above map is at the link.
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Indian LGBT Group Denounces Ruling
We are deeply disappointed at the decision of the Supreme Court in Suresh Kumar Kaushal v. Naz Foundation. The decision by overturning the historic Delhi High Court judgment which recognized that Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) persons are full citizens of India, attempts to stem the tide of history. By overturning the Naz Foundation judgment, the Supreme Court has, in one fell stroke again reduced LGBT persons to the status of what the Delhi High Court memorably called 'unapprehended felons'. The judgment of the Supreme Court is a unconscionable blow to the dignity of LGBT persons who as per the Indian Constitution are entitled to equal treatment. It withdraws the protective arm of the constitution from LGBT persons and renders LGBT persons vulnerable to discrimination, violence and harassment. It is a tragedy that this judgment forgets the vision of the founders of the Indian republic which was so eloquently captured by the Delhi High Court. By re-criminalizing LGBT persons the judgment ignores the spirit of inclusiveness which is the heart of the Indian Constitution as articulated by Jawaharlal Nehru. It equally abandons the principle of constitutional morality (ie majorities dont have a charter to discriminate against minorities purely because they are majorities) articulated by Dr. Ambedkar which is the cornerstone of a diverse and plural nation.Read the full statement.
INDIA: Supreme Court Recriminalizes Homosexuality In Shocking Decision, Reverses 2009 Landmark Ruling
Via Reuters:
India's Supreme Court on Wednesday reinstated a ban on gay sex in the world's largest democracy, following a four-year period of decriminalization that had helped bring homosexuality into the open in the socially conservative country. In 2009 the Delhi High Court ruled unconstitutional a section of the penal code dating back to 1860 that prohibits "carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal" and lifted the ban for consenting adults. The Supreme Court threw out that decision, saying only parliament could change Section 377 of the penal code, widely interpreted to refer to homosexual sex. Violation of the law can be punished with up to 10 years in jail. The move shocked rights activists around the world, who had expected the court simply to rubber-stamp the earlier ruling. In recent years, India's Supreme Court has made progressive rulings on several issues such as prisoners' rights and child labor.Via Al Jazeera:
The court on Wednesday held that an homosexual act was punishable under Section 377 of the Indian penal code, reports quoting the judgement said. A bench of justice G S Singhvi and justice SJ Mukhopadhaya delivered the verdict after hearing petitions of anti-gay right activists besides social and religious organisations against the earlier Delhi high court order of 2009. The top court came down heavily on the federal government describing its approach as “casual” and said it was concerned that the Indian parliament had not thought fit to discuss the issue. The federal government had welcomed the ruling of the earlier Delhi High court on the grounds that the section 377 of the Indian penal code was a relic of the British colonial law and that Indian society was much more tolerant towards homosexuality, reports said. The Delhi high court on July 2, 2009, had ruled that sex between two consenting adults in private would not be an offence.Via the India Times:
The verdict has been shocking on many levels. Firstly, landing a major blow to India's claim of being a country with a modern outlook, the fact a law made by Britishers in the 1860's has been upheld in 2013 makes for a strange sentence. Secondly, with many countries now equating gay equality with the rights for same-sex marriage, the Supreme Court ruling puts India back in the company of most nations in the Islamic world and many African countries which criminalise homosexuality. The only country in South Asia where gay sex is now legal is Nepal.
"It is highly embarrassing for the country because now we will be among the dirty dozens of the world," said Narayan, the lawyer from the Alternative Law Forum.In most western countries, the debate about same-sex couples has shifted on to their rights to marry. More than a dozen countries now allow homosexuals to wed. Thirdly, it is a blow to people's right to equality. Just because gays have made a different lifestyle choice, they do not deserve to be put in jail. They are also entitled to their privacy and dignity. They do face widespread discrimination and ignorance from a largely homophobic Indian society. And with this verdict, the law has also deserted them.
Fourthly, by putting the ball in the Parliament's court, the Supreme Court has now granted power to decide how India's citizens should lead their private lives, in the hands of those MPs who are yet to become sensitive even to the gender equality issue.
