India: "It Feels Good to Be Legitimate"

by Michael Jones · 2009-07-03 10:04:00 UTC
Topics:

India Homosexuality

There seems to be a wave of euphoria in India as the news of the Delhi High Court's ruling decriminalizing homosexuality continues to make headlines.  As LGBT blogger Rex Wockner noted yesterday, the ruling in India means that "seventeen percent of the GLBT people on the planet were decriminalized yesterday."  That's huge.

A number of folks have offered powerful quotes on what this ruling in India means.  One of my favorites comes from Sunil Mehra, the former editor of India's version of Maxim magazine.  He told the BBC that "it feels good to be legitimate," which is exactly what the ruling by the Delhi High Court did yesterday: it legitimated a population that for so many years was forced to live underground for fear of being arrested, fined, or abused by law enforcement officers simply because of their sexual orientation.

Below we'll include some of our favorite quotes on the decriminalization ruling in India.  And we'll start with Mehra.

Sunil Mehra, former editor, India edition of Maxim Magazine: "For many of us the journey from the 377 (Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code defines homosexual acts as "carnal intercourse against the order of nature") world to a non 377 world is marked by innumerable, significant, intensely personal milestones that someday will constitute the history of a much-maligned minority.  Through it all its been an effort to hold one's head high, walk lonely but proud and repeat ad nauseum to oneself: I'm a good man. I love my family. I take care of animals. I do not lie. I do not cheat. I believe in God. I earn my living. I pay my taxes. And it's really my business who I sleep with."

A.J. Hariharan, founder of a gay rights group in Chennai: "This is going to impact the whole country.  This will change the lives of millions of gays and lesbians in India."

Anand Grover, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health and an attorney with the Lawyers' Collective in Mumbai: "[The ruling] positively impacts on how services like HIV services will be provided amongst the men having sex with men community. There is a very strong intervention program by the national AIDS Control Organization in India for men having sex with men. But, there are a lot of impediments by the police because of this action. And, that is one of the reasons the Delhi High Court JAS also held that it interferes with the right to health."

Bollywood Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt: "This is a defining moment in the history of free India. No state has the right to tell its citizens when or whom to love. The only 'queer' people are those who propagate hate."

Designer Suneet Verma: "This is a landmark victory. We're a secular nation, and every being should have the right to choose their religion. And also make their sexual choices. This gives us the freedom of making personal choices. I feel the government has given me my dignity and right to choose the way I wish to live. Now, I can live according to my rules. This is a big deal for future generations, they won't live in fear or self-loathing. They can walk with their head held high."

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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