The natns where 's still crimal to be gay (as India marks an awkward anniversary) | ITV News

Contents:

• GAY UPL INDIA ASK SUPREME COURT TO LEGALISE SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
• THE NATNS WHERE 'S STILL CRIMAL TO BE GAY (AS INDIA MARKS AN AWKWARD ANNIVERSARY)
• INDIA’S TOP URT CRIMALIZ GAY SEX LANDMARK LG
• IS GAY MARRIAGE LEGAL INDIA

GAY UPL INDIA ASK SUPREME COURT TO LEGALISE SAME-SEX MARRIAGE

REUTERS/Anhree FadnavisSummarySupreme Court to hear gay marriage se JanuaryFour gay upl say nied basic fundamental rightsModi ernment has opposed same-sex marriageCase seen as key tt for Modi ernmentNEW DELHI, Dec 19 (Rters) - Four gay upl have asked India's Supreme Court to regnise same-sex marriag, settg the stage for a legal face-off wh Prime Mister Narendra Modi's ernment which has the past refed to legalise such a historic verdict 2018, India's top urt crimalised homosexualy by scrappg a lonial-era ban on gay sex.

Dpe the 2018 lg, members of India's lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr (LGBT) muny pla about a lack of acceptance and discrimatn agast gay people Indian activists say that while 2018 lg affirmed their nstutnal rights, they are still prived of legal backg for same-sex marriag, a basic right enjoyed by heterosexual married three Supreme Court filgs seen by Rters, the upl say that whout legal regnn of beg married, they are nied rights such as those lked to medil nsent, pensns, adoptn or even simpler thgs like club memberships for upl.

"In tth, they have no rights at all, " the filg four gay upl want a Supreme Court lg that modifi or terprets laws a way that allows same-genr marriag, the urt filgs is a sensive subject the socially nservative untry of 1. 4 billn people, where speakg openly about homosexualy is taboo for pleas have already triggered a bate on prime-time TV news and generated edorials newspapers whether the time has e for the world's largt mocracy to jo roughly three dozen untri where such marriag are Uned Stat this month approved legislatn that provis feral regnn to same-sex marriag a bid to further safeguard gay Indian Supreme Court s, which follow many lawsus filed lower urts where no cisn was reached, will be a key tt for Modi's Hdu natnalist ernment and his Monday, a feral lawmaker om Modi's party appealed to lleagu the upper hoe of parliament to oppose legal regnn of marriage between same-sex upl. "Backg the upl are high-profile lawyers cludg one of India's former Attorney Generals and another unsel named Srabh Kirpal, who is openly gay and an terview last month acced Modi's ernment of layg his elevatn as a state judge due to his sexual and Modi's office did not rpond to a requt for ment on those remarks.

THE NATNS WHERE 'S STILL CRIMAL TO BE GAY (AS INDIA MARKS AN AWKWARD ANNIVERSARY)

We terviewed several gay tour operators cludg Bryan Herb om Zoom Vatns (listed as a rource below), Robert Sharp om Out Adventur, and Zach Mos om HE Travel, who have equently traveled to India, and they all report feelg credibly wele.

Tuday marks 10 years sce India crimalised gay sex, but 's unlikely the tone will be 's bee the 2009 lower urt lg was short-lived; overturned wh a few years by the natn's Supreme 2012 judgment effectively re-tablished the Brish lonial-era law Sectn 377, which saw gay sex punished by up to 10 years took another six years - September 2018 - before India's top urt fally brought the natn le wh the majory of the world and stck down the there are still dozens of untri where same-sex relatnships are the world is still crimal to be gay? The Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn (ILGA) listed the followg natns s 2019 map of crimalisatn of nsensual same-sex sexual acts between shas of yellow ( facto crimalisatn) through to brown (effective or possible ath penalty) show the natns which still outlaw gay relatnships 2019.

Cred: ILGASome untri have varyg levels of punishments bee of regnal differenc Facto crimalisatn: 2Iraq, EgyptUp to eight years imprisonment: 31Moroc, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Chad, Cameroon, Togo, Ghana, Liberia, Guea, Senegal, Namibia, Botswana*, Zimbabwe, Ethpia, Errea, Somalia, Oman, Syria, Lebanon, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kuwa, Comoros, Mri, Eswati, Bhutan, Sgapore, Papua New Guea, Samoa, Cook Islands10 years to life prison: 26Jamai, Antigua and Barbuda, St Kts and Nevis, Domi, St Vcent and Grenad, St Lucia, Grenada, Barbados, Guyana, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, South Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Banglash, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Bnei, Soloman Islands, Kiribati, Tuvalu, TongaEffective ath penalty: 6Nigeria, Sudan, Somalia, Sdi Arabia, Yemen, IranPossible ath penalty: 5Mrania, UAE, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Gambia*Sce the list was published Botswana scrapped s law, banng gay sex June. "Our inty n be challenged bee of the motherland, " she told ITV Loi is CEO of Gaysians, which overseas a UK alliance of more than 20 Brish Asian LGBT+ said even those not born India still "hold onto whatever piece you have of your homeland", so remembers the 2012 reversg of the crimalisatn as "terrible, horrifyg (and) heartbreakg that you're not accepted for beg who you are.

INDIA’S TOP URT CRIMALIZ GAY SEX LANDMARK LG

"India has moved on so many ways but diaspora muni haven't, " she law changed 2018 after a petn of gay people who said they were livg fear of beg harassed and prosecuted by police. However, is a socially nservative untry and the suatn wh LGBT rights India has been changg que rapidly, wh progrs and setbacks happeng every few years; so ’s unrstandable that gay travellers might wonr whether ’s the bt statn for them to choose. Even before the change law, gay travellers uld feel nfint that a trip to India would be safe and enjoyable, if they were aware of their surroundgs and were reful about public displays of affectn.

As many non-gay-iendly untri, tourists and travellers tend to be exempt om the same prsur as lols (although, havg said that, the Pk Rupee tourism market has been growg for a while). We have put together a list of our favoure gay hook up apps to e while travelg, but you might also want to bsh up on your gay sna etiquette if you want some simple, steamy fun…. However, what India needs currently is support and visibily om the LGBT muny and if feels safe, perhaps bigger and more liberal ci, gay travellers n feel more relaxed to be themselv.

In s 2013 lg, the Supreme Court said that only a “mcule actn of the untry’s populatn nstute lbians, gays, bisexuals or transgenrs” and was therefore “legally unstaable” to repeal the act. In an terview earlier this year, lawmaker Subramanian Swamy, a proment member of the lg Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), scribed the legalizatn of gay sex as a “danger to natnal secury” and “agast Hdutva.

IS GAY MARRIAGE LEGAL INDIA

Out of the timated 48 former Brish loni that crimalize homosexualy, 30 still have laws based on the origal lonial anti-LGBT legislatn, acrdg to Lus Mendos, -thor of the 2017 Internatnal LGBTI Associatn “State-Sponsored Homophobia” report.

Chakraborty was marryg a marriage is not legally regnized India, but sce the Supreme Court crimalized homosexualy 2018, LGBTQ upl have held weddgs to make their relatnship “official, ” unofficially. Same-sex marriage is not legally regnized India, but sce the Supreme Court crimalized homosexualy 2018, several LGBTQ upl have held weddgs or weddg-like ceremoni to make their relatnship “official, ” upl’ termatn to get married, they say, is about breakg stereotyp, sharg their joy wh iends and fay, and sistg on accs to a powerful cultural stutn. Acrdg to a Pew survey, acceptance of homosexualy India creased by 22 percentage pots between 2013 and 2019, among the largt shifts of the untri Agarwal, the lawyer, pots out that the Uned Stat regnized same-sex marriage only after years of growg social acceptance, and he expects India will be the upl aren’t wag though.

Read more: Column: Homophobia Is Not an Asian Value It’s for this reason that some activists believe India might not be ready for same-sex marriage—at least until genr and sexual orientatn discrimatn are outlawed. “The society is not gog to sh to embrace gay marriage but that’s not what we are necsarily lookg for, ” says Srabh Kirpal, a lawyer who helped challenged the law crimalizg same-sex relatns.

When clil psychologist Lata Hemchand, PhD, began her private practice Bangalore, India, almost four s ago, she viewed her homosexual patients the way she was tght to at one of India’s top trag stutns—as sexual viants. ) While the judg foced their arguments primarily on the importance of dividual tonomy, nondiscrimatn and privacy, they poted repeatedly to the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn’s 1973 cisn to remove homosexualy om s list of mental disorrs. Dpe the longtime ban, some ways acceptance of homosexual behavr is eply rooted Indian culture, says Ahuja, cg as exampl the posive pictns of same-sex activy the 2, 000-year-old Kama Sutra and the 1, 000-year-old erotic sculptur at the Khajuraho templ.

But while Indian society is willg to accept homosexualy certa groups—pecially among creative profsnals the world of fashn or film—homosexualy overall is highly stigmatized, she says. 14, 2017), Ahuja tted a three-part terventn: an tnal prentatn offerg facts about homosexualy and s longtime prence Indian culture; an exercise which participants image they are members of a persecuted mory; and a ssn based on the ntact hypothis which stunts teract wh a gay man and a lbian woman. “We really need more such foms to talk about homosexualy and to give the opportuny for homosexuals to share their experienc, ” says Ahuja, notg that Indians’ attus are typilly shaped by media pictns of homosexuals as buffoons.

The stance of the BJP’s parent anizatn, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), on homosexualy, on the other hand, has softened over the years, even if still don’t go far enough.

As Sunil Ambekar pots out his book, “The RSS: Roadmaps for the 21st Century, ” the anizatn now supports the 377 cisn, but still do not support gay marriag India, bee they thk will “stutnalize” homosexualy and hence, should be “prohibed.