In a historic ruling led by a five-judge bench, the Supreme Court scrapped section 377 of the Indian Penal Code on 6th September, thus decriminalising homosexuality. It is a much awaited victory for the LGBTQA+ community that has come after years and years of protests, demonstrations, repeated hearings in 2009, 2013 and a lot of effort by various human rights groups and activist groups like ABVA. In their judgement, nine years ago, Justice S Murlidhar and Chief Justice A.P. Shah had spoken against section 377 with the words, "As it stands, section 377 denies a gay person a right to full personhood which is implicit in the notion of life under Article 21 of the Constitution."
The 19th century colonial law was introduced into India during the British rule and had the power to deal any person who engaged in “unnatural offences” or intercourse “against the order of nature.” imprisonment, a life sentence or a fine. On 6th September post the decision being announced, Divya Dureja, a queer-poet-activist based in Delhi brought back the queer party “What a Pride Night” to celebrate the repeal of the section. While a lot of her poetry revolves around the experiences of being queer, she admitted that being in a metropolitan city like Delhi affords her some amount of privilege and safeguarded her against grave issues when dating other women in public spaces.
Vikas Sharma, who works as a data analyst in Pune said, “It’s a beautiful time to be in India. You are in the middle of a revolution and things are finally starting to look up.” While the judgement is a cause for celebration many people from the LGBTQA+ community have agreed that the legal change is only the first step towards ending discrimination against queer people. They are armed with the law but cultural ideas and societal ostracisation do not cease overnight.
Moreover, even the LGBTQA+ community is a heterogeneous entity that has hierarchies within the group. Thus the 377 section might not mean much for 21 year old Lakshmi Pawar, who inhabits a small hut on the outskirts of Jamshedpur. When asked about her response to the judgement she replied, “I don’t read the news as much. Yes it is a good thing. But how does it affect me? I am still a girl slogging away in a slum. The villagers will not let me live with the girl I like. I have no cause for celebration.”?
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