Decriminalising Gay Sex In India: What Should End After The Beginning?

Any kind of sex outside the heterosexual norm is considered “unnatural” and incriminating in India. That was until Thursday when the country’s Supreme Court has ruled to legalize gay sex. The archaic law, known as Section 377, was abolished in this landmark ruling and who could be happier? Of course, the LGBTQI+ community not just in India, but most queer people are also happy for India and its Supreme Court for ruling that discrimination based on sexual orientation is now a fundamental violation of rights.

Celebrations have filled the country after the announcement. People distributing chocolates, some brought the fun and celebrated outside the court, some are just absorbing the fact that they are not considered as criminals in the country anymore and it was pure bliss. But unlike any other countries that are bound by their religious beliefs, this is just the beginning. Laws can be amended instantly but culture cannot be changed overnight. People who are still doomed by their “moral norms” might still find it hard to accept the fact that this is happening. But what do Indian queers need to overcome growing up as who they really are?

It is not surprising that discrimination of queer people in India is no different from any other places in the world. Discriminating behavior is global. This ignorance about sex and sexual identities may have started in the fact that “sex” itself is a taboo subject in the country. You cannot talk about it. That’s where the problem arises because one cannot talk about “sexuality” if you don’t talk about sex per se. Some Indians might not even know that there are other identities between male and female. It could be a struggle for people who are not heterosexual because they are seen differently.

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“Coming out” is feared. Another given consequence of Section 377 is this. One cannot just true to how they feel about themselves if they cannot freely express whoever they are. One would even deny himself medications and treatment for HIV just because they are afraid they might be caught if it was learned that they were infected because of gay sex. How sad is that for the queer community of India that health can be compromised just because you do not want to incriminate yourself?

Well, you know laws that are there but not strictly enforced? That is how India treats Section 377. However, it could be used to oppress the LGBT community by threatening them with this colonial-era law. This is the reason why bullying is against gay men in the country is very prominent. That is how these bullies can easily become menaces to queer people, call them names and stuff. Most of us may have gone through that but just imagine living in a country where a law used to uphold a concept of “illegal kind of sex and sexual orientations“. You just can’t conceive how it must have been difficult for these queer Indians to live their lives.

You may not also know that gays are denied jobs in some companies there? Yeah, the did that. Preventing you from getting jobs just because of this unequal treatment is just the worst. When the world is moving forward, flourishing with diversity when it comes to job opportunities, Section 377 gave licenses for some of these homophobic industries on India to not accept queer people and also fire someone if they learned that he/she is a homosexual. That really sucks.

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Most of these are already punishing but the worst part is being disowned by your parents. Indian children are being taught about concrete gender roles. The females are always dominated by the males. Patriarchy is a strong concept for them. And again, of course, children are taught that there are only two genders in the family, male and female. And anything that could be in between is considered “not normal”. Some parents would even go great lengths of disowning children if they happened to fall “in-between” these two standard genders they are imposing. The way you were born can even have you thrown out of your parents’ house. Even an Indian Prince was not spared from this insanity. Manvendra Singh Gohil, the first openly-gay prince in the world, has experienced public humiliation which has also affected his relationship with his parents and sister. His family has ultimately accused him of bringing dishonor to the family and yes, you guessed it right, he was disowned too. That was ridiculously depressing!

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But then, our queer fellows in India are just unstoppable. If we are brave to fight who are we, they are braver to fight the system. Opposing something that has been established since forever that was built from cultural and religious factors is courageous. Initiatives like the Kolkata Rainbow Pride Festival and the Mumbai based Kashish Mumbai Queer Film Festival which screens LGBT-themed movies are just bold moves to fight for their rights. The right of being themselves to be considered normal people and not criminals. This landmark ruling of India’s Supreme Court is just the beginning of a new chapter for the LGBT community in India. And we will leave you with this Icon Manvendra Singh Gohil and his photo looking like a million bucks!