Hooray for Gays! Goodbye, Section 377.
Melissa A. Bell -
Thursday, July 02, 2009 8:04 PM
After an arduous cross country road trip (actually a really incredible re-introduction to the US; Iowa is actually beautiful), I made it home to San Diego, CA. When I left for college, I wasn't terribly sad to shake the sand from my shoes of this foggy, sleepy town. But I've always been proud of where I came from. California is notorious for being the trendsetter for liberal ideas and inclusiveness for the rest of the country. And it was a liberal upbringing: a friend was the first adopted child by an openly gay man. Two kids came dressed in drag to high school graduation. My dad's law firm supported the gay pride parade way back when it wasn't the must-attend event of the year.
But yesterday, driving in to San Diego, I saw a bumper sticker: "The fight has just begun: Overturn Prop 8."
In case you aren't up on California politics (I'm not and I'm from here), Prop 8 was a measure passed by the voting public in California in November, 2008 and then upheld by the California supreme court that defines marriage as one between a man and a woman--there by striking down an earlier legalization of marriage for same-sex couples.
On election day, after Obama nabbed an early win and the atmosphere seemed tilting to the left, it was a huge blow to see Proposition 8 upheld. Where was the inclusion? The forward-thinking liberality of my home state? To make matters stranger, anyone married before Prop 8 was still allowed to be deemed married. One blogger wrote: "We are now collectors items: Limited Edition Married Gays." Funny. But sad and true.
So, back to India. In a place lambasted by people on both sides of the ocean as tending too far toward social conservatism, it made me so proud to see my new home repeal Section 377. While one city (San Diego) stagnates in backward laws, another city (Delhi) overturns them. Of course, this does not mean the fight against inequality has just been miraculously won in Delhi. The bumper sticker I saw here could aptly hold true there: the fight has just begun.
There are already dissenters. In the New York Times article about Section 377, quotes Maulana Abdul Khaliq Madrasi, a vice chancellor of Dar ul-Uloom, as saying the decision brings Western culture to India and will “corrupt Indian boys and girls.”
But that's what so great about this. It isn't a Western culture insidious idea. The court decision repealed a law super-imposed by the British Raj. So, in fact, it could be seen as a decision to push off the relics of Western culture. Now India can judge homosexuality by its own laws, not the West's.
Especially since it seems we're not doing so hot on that issue right now.
Well done, Delhi. Maybe you could send a message to the California supreme court, too?