The Decriminalisation of IPC 377
Sushmita Bose -
Saturday, July 04, 2009 4:51 PM
I am too excited about the Delhi High Court order scrapping Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, so I couldn't wait till Sunday to post. I heard about the ‘landmark judgement' at 4 pm on Thursday, when one of my colleagues, a young Indian girl, informed me in a baffled tone: "Did you hear about the Delhi High Court order? They have revoked IPC 377."
"Are you serious?" I almost couldn't believe my ears. I checked Google News -- and there it was. In one stroke, the Indian judiciary had emerged out of the Dark Ages and blazed into the third millennium. "Hooray!" I said.
"You mean... you support the decision?" my colleague asked me, sounding most disbelieving.
"Yes, of course, isn't that a no-brainer?"
"But it's so unnatural, it's so WEIRD. How can they legitimise alternate sexuality?"
I explained my theory to her: your personal life and your sexual orientation is your choice; the state -- or anybody else -- cannot tell you what to be or what to do. As long as you are not harming anybody or acting against larger public interests, you are free to do what you want. You cannot arrest someone because he or she prefers to be with a same-sex person. Simple. "Cheer up," I told her, as she continued to look crestfallen. "We've proved today -- at least our judiciary has -- that we are capable of free thinking: surely, that's worth something?"
"This means, soon, we'll all be arranging same-sex marriages?" she continued, looking very miserable. "Parents will be expected to get their sons married to a boy? Oh dear!"
Well, I laughed, same-sex marriages are a long way off. "This basically means that being homosexual is not equivalent to being a criminal." She looked a tad reassured, but then I completely ruined it for her by saying, "It'll be really awesome if same-sex marriages were to be legalised in India! I can picture some of my gay friends getting married."
After that, I tried by best to do damage control by explaining the likely consequences to her -- in very objective terms. This is going to -- hopefully -- encourage more gays to come out of the closet, and we won't be confronted with situations where a gay man is forced to marry a woman, and the marriage ends up in a disaster for both parties. AIDS campaigns will be easier to manage with more people being upfront about their sexual preferences. Families of gays and lesbians will realise what their wards are indulging in is not "illegal", and will be more accepting of their choices.
Provided, of course, we, as a society, come out in support and categorically state being a homosexual is NOT a stigma and reaffirm it's just a way of life. Finally, I told her: "You're straight, so as a woman you'd want to be with a man -- that's your prerogative, nobody is asking you to do otherwise. So if somebody is homosexual, why would you want to take away his or her basic right to be with the person he or she wants to be with?"
I don't know what the ‘straight' reaction is back home (I'd love to know, so if any of you have any information about what the average man or woman on the street is thinking, do shoot me a comment), but most Indians here greeted the news with either wide-eyed disbelief or a snigger. Cherry Tree -- my Mallu friend -- was as happy about it as I was. "This is really great news," he exulted. "People have every right in the world to be what they want to be: straight or gay."
When I told an American colleague about it, she almost whooped. "Wow!" she said. "That's so cool... you must be over the moon. There must be celebrations back home, right?"
Er, not really. Religious heads -- from all denominations -- are, predictably, muttering darkly how all this goes against "Indian culture". A noted doctor has reportedly said that "HIV, AIDS and venereal diseases would spread like wild fire if such a move is made legal". Does he mean that ‘in the closet' gays will suddenly throw caution to the winds and be imbued with a deathwish? What were they doing so far? Practising safe sex has to now be equated with criminality?
Politicians are going slightly batty: they are making all kinds of confused noises. I guess they are trying to figure out if the gay community can be channelised into something more meaningful -- like, say, a vote-bank.
Newspaper reports are quoting people from "all walks of life" saying this order is antithetical to our "values". Huh? Really? As far as I know, our "values" also teach us not to mix around too freely with members of the opposite sex -- that's a sign of bad upbringing. If I stay out too late with a man, my neighbours will make it their business to find out why I am being dropped back home by a man at 3 am. God forbid, if he comes inside my house at that hour; my landlord will most likely give me marching orders the next day itself for indulging in sinful activities. So why are we suddenly getting so excited about a man's place being next to a woman -- not next to another man? Does this mean that girlie late nights will now suddenly be viewed with a great deal of suspicion? ("No, what EXACTLY were you girls up to?" I may well be asked by upholders of our values).
It amazes me we've grown up so fast. Even 15 years ago, homosexuality was almost unheard of -- in public domain. My first encounter with it was a reel one -- the movie Philadelphia. "What was the funny thing about the film?" somebody asked me. "The fact that the character Tom Hanks played on screen was dismissed from work because he had AIDS," I replied. "No, silly," I was told. "The funny bit was that he was gay... didn't you find that odd?"
I didn't. I realised I hadn't even given much thought to it because, in the movie, Tom Hanks being with his boyfriend (Antonio Banderas) seemed so normal. They were in love, right?
Then, Fire happened. Personally, I thought it was a bad movie because it was too apologetic. Even as there were large-scale protests all over India and movie theatres were forced to stop screenings, in Calcutta, a lobby of women marched down one afternoon saying it is not an offence to watch a movie with a lesbian theme.
I grew up too. I now have many close friends who are gay. I am sure my friend Ashok Row Kavi is a happy man; he's always believed in wearing his heart on his sleeve. Maybe it's too soon to personally name the others, but the wonderful thing is all that is about to change.
So, here's to a new India -- where co-existence and acceptance and tolerance will be the ways forward. Let's hope we don't turn back from here.