LGBT Indians p hop on urt lg on anti-gay law | CNN

Contents:

• THE SLOW EVOLUTN OF GAY CULTURE INDIA
• INDIA TO REVIEW LG ON LAW BANNG GAY SEX
• LGBT INDIANS DARE TO HOPE AS SUPREME COURT L ON ANTI-GAY LAW
• A NEW CHANCE FOR GAY RIGHTS INDIA
• GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT

THE SLOW EVOLUTN OF GAY CULTURE INDIA

At one place we have purely and strictly relig patg and sculptors like at Konark or at Jagganath Puri templ and at another place we have monuments like Khajuraho which is famo world over for s erotic arts and sculptors; this also clus sculptors wh homosexual activi.

But our morn society somehow has bee ls tolerant towards anythg which is not regular or mon acrdg to their llective perceptn; whether we study society’s behavr towards relig mori such as Islam or Christiany or s behavr towards sexual mori such as gays, lbians or bisexuals. “You’re not Mumbai here; you are MumGay, ” he says, parodyg the tle of a short Indian gay film, “BomGay, ” which generated some buzz at the time of s release 1996.

Later the eveng, Bobby explas that India homosexualy is characterized, as often is Asia, by the classil try: crimalizatn, social disapproval, and the police’s nonenforcement of the law. He adds: “For a long time, the ernment would not crimalize homosexualy for the sake of ‘ntament, ’ but didn’t want to thorize for fear of makg a public issue. ”The ia of “ntament” — an Amerin diplomatic term referrg to the limatn of the Communist ntagn — is que a relative notn a untry whose Natnal AIDS Control Organizatn rmally timat has at least 70 ln India, as often Asia, the issue is not jt about the law: a whole culture helps make homosexualy yet thgs evolve.

INDIA TO REVIEW LG ON LAW BANNG GAY SEX

“This article [Sectn 377] was very rarely ed India, but was a sword of Damocl hangg over our heads, and ntributed to the nonregnn of homosexuals India, ” explas Rajeev, a gay activist om the Naz Foundatn Tst, an anizatn that fought for the crimalizatn of homosexualy and was supported by many Bollywood wrers and actors as well as by Amartya Sen, Nobel Prize wner enomics, and by the famo Manvendra Sgh Gohil, the only royal prce to be openly gay. When I met him 2015 his prtig New Delhi office, he nfirmed that he would “file a new bill on behalf of the Left [the Congrs Party] to reverse the cisn of the Court and fally crimalize homosexualy India once and for all.

” This great secular lady, like many of my terlocutors New Delhi, criciz the lg party of the Right that is currently power — Prime Mister Narendra Modi’s Indian People’s Party — for havg renewed ti wh an “archaic and anachronistic” Hdu natnalism that she unhatgly characteriz as sexist, homophobic, and antifemist.

Beg a gay-iendly figure, this Bollywood producer neverthels believ that India needs to evolve on the gay India, as often Asia, the issue is not jt about the law: a whole culture helps make homosexualy taboo. Several activists weled the disvery their blogs, even wonrg whether the Gandhi in uld serve their e by beg a mol of gay or whout a gay in, today India is movg forward.

LGBT INDIANS DARE TO HOPE AS SUPREME COURT L ON ANTI-GAY LAW

“There are now Gay Pri celebratns some major ci, ” Rajeev ntu; “there are ‘pk nights’ nightclubs, a Queer Ink gay bookstore here Mumbai, and Bollywood stars who sometim perform gay characters.

A NEW CHANCE FOR GAY RIGHTS INDIA

Organizatns fendg gay rights, such as the Naz Foundatn, are even thorized by the ernment, which isn’t possible Cha, Vietnam, or the root of the velopments, you first fd mographics. ”Frédéric Martel, a rearcher at Scienc-Po Paris and ZHdK Zurich, is the host and producer of the French rad show Soft Power, and foreign affairs lumnist at He is the thor of ne books, cludg “Global Gay, ” om which this article is excerpted.

GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Printial victory, 2016 was a turbulent year for lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer (LGBTQ) people and transgenr rights took more promence than ever the global media spotlight after several high-profile legal battl, and celebry and cultural LGBTQ people worldwi still face discrimatn many aspects of life such as employment, tn and health re, and are subjected to wispread vlence, advot say. However, gay and transgenr rights groups are beg creasgly backed, and are fightg to change polici and laws to protect LGBTQ people om vlence and are five of the biggt gas for LGBTQ rights 2016:1) Uned Natns appots first LGBTQ rights vtigatorV Muntarbhorn speaks wh the UN prs Lohr-Jon - Pacific Prs / LightRocket via Getty ImagThe Uned Natns September appoted s first LGBTQ rights pennt vtigator to help protect sexual and genr mori worldwi om vlence and Muntarbhorn's three-year role was created by the U. Horac Villalobos / Corbis via Getty ImagMalta beme the first untry Europe to ban nversn therapy, a much-cricized and discreded practice that aims to change sexual orientatn, genr inty or genr southern Mederranean island natn crimalized nversn practic -- often referred to as "gay cure" therapi -- wh s parliament llg a "ceptive and harmful act" who prcribe or perform the therapy n be punished wh f of up to 10, 000 ros ($10, 400) and one year is wily nsired as one of the most progrsive natns Europe when to LGBTQ rights, havg ma a raft of legal and social chang recent has troduced LGBTQ-clive tn, passed same-sex civil unns and allowed transgenr people to change their legal genr whout any medil or state terventn.

4) Belize scraps lonial-era anti-homosexualy lawBelize LGBTQ Activist Caleb OrozCaleb OrozBelize's Supreme Court September led that a lonial-era law crimalizg homosexualy was unnstutnal, a judgment LGBTQ activists say will boost efforts to abolish anti-gay laws other former Brish loni the law, which punished gay sex wh up to 10 years prison, was scrapped after years of advocy by the gay rights activist Caleb Oroz of the Uned Belize Advocy Movement. RELATED: Belize Supreme Court Overturns Anti-Gay LawBelize beme the third untry to crimalize gay sex 2016, along wh the South Pacific island of N and the Seychell, an Indian Ocean archipelago, acrdg to the U. 5) Bety pageants, film dtry she spotlight on LGBTQ issuFrom the first openly lbian Miss Ameri nttant and Israel's gural transgenr bety pageant to Emmy awards for the h transgenr TV seri "Transparent", the entertament dtry is shg a bigger spotlight on LGBTQ stars and populary of shows recent years like "Orange Is the New Black" and movi such as "The Danish Girl", which feature transgenr stars or foc on issu facg gay and transgenr people, have seen LGBTQ rights bee mastream the this succs amid ntroversy wh the LGBTQ muny over how transgenr people are portrayed, and over the stg of straight men and women transgenr rol.

India’s top urt is to review a cisn that upheld a lonial-era law which crimalis gay sex, a victory for rights mpaigners at a time when the untry is navigatg a path between tradn and morny. If unsuccsful, any future cisns to lift the ban will rt wh policians, who are largely nservative and opposed to supreme urt ma a surprise lg 2013 that restated the ban on gay sex after a four-year perd of the hearg, gay rights activists outsi the urt sang: “We will be succsful.