Posted under General
Gay rights supporters planned to take to the streets of Calcutta, Bangalore and New Delhi with rainbow flags and banners calling for an end to discrimination and pushing for acceptance in a society where intolerance is widespread.
“We are saying for the first time we feel safe enough and strong enough to come out to the streets and say we have our rights and we demand them,” said Lesley Esteves, 32, a gay rights activist who helped organize the New Delhi parade.
While small groups have marched in the eastern city of Calcutta in recent years, Sunday’s events are the first gay pride parades in Bangalore and New Delhi.
The marches come just days before the Delhi High Court is expected to hear arguments about overturning a law against homosexual sex that dates to the British colonial era. The law, which forbids acts “against the order of nature,” carries a punishment of up to 10 years in prison.
The law is rarely enforced, but activists say it sanctions discrimination.
“Discrimination is widespread because there is no protection or law or societal understanding,” said Esteves. “There’s discrimination in the workplace, there’s discrimination in the family - it’s on every level.”
Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, a senior leader of India’s main Hindu nationalist party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, called homosexuality “unnatural” and said he opposed the gay activists’ march.
“I don’t think it will be accepted in our country. Most of the people are traditional people, religious people and it will not be accepted in Indian culture,” Naqvi said.
Naqvi said BJP supporters would not protest the march because “we are not going to give importance to such behaviour.”
Still, there are signs that homosexuality is becoming more accepted in India, at least in big cities. In New Delhi, gay and lesbian groups hold biweekly movie screenings and parties, and organizers say attendance is rising. Newspaper editorials have called for revisions to the law, and prominent writers and activists have signed petitions expressing their support.
Activists say marginalizing gay people is also a serious health concern because it drives them underground and makes them more likely to engage in unsafe sex.
More than 5 per cent of gay men are infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, compared to 0.36 per cent of the general population, according to statistics compiled by the Ministry of Health. An estimated 2.5 million people in India are infected with HIV.
Source: The Canadian Press
Rachel on 29 Jun 2008 at 3:50 pm #
Great, i think by this gay or les thing India will be the no.1 country in AIDS list.
Gowtham on 29 Jun 2008 at 11:49 pm #
Yeah, these people are more vulnerable to HIV
Marc on 30 Jun 2008 at 10:05 am #
These people are vulnerable only because they are forced to be secretive because of our backward country’s homosexuality laws.
Homosexuality is common in developed countries. Does this mean that the HIV rate is also high there? Nope. Change your thinking, Rachel.
Rachel on 01 Jul 2008 at 8:05 am #
Well well Marc, i just don’t give a damn about homosexuality or AIDS. Unless i am not into it
Gowtham on 01 Jul 2008 at 1:24 pm #
@ Marc, Exactly!
Manish Sinha on 06 Jul 2008 at 10:14 am #
@marc
If you or your friends are gay, does it mean that we too adopt this thing. I never believe i blindly following things.
If homosexuality is common in your place it doesn’t mean it should be common in our place too. Its not a logical conclusion.
Gowtham on 06 Jul 2008 at 1:45 pm #
@ Manish Sinha : Excuse me!
We are not Gay. Homosexuality is common all over the world, but these people here in India are considered sinners. We are here talking about Human Rights
Hari on 06 Jul 2008 at 7:05 pm #
AIDS cannot be created and only be transmitted. So homosexuality doesn’t leads to AIDS if they use condoms.
So, those who likes Homo sex, carry on with condoms.
Those who doesn’t like just keep on blaming them.
Anyways some where, some one is going to do that.
As Gautham said human rights plays an important role here. NO rule says homo sex is a crime or sin. It is wrong only for those who doesn’t do it. So those who doesn’t do, keep on blame. Those who likes it use condoms. Thus the logical conclusion.
Marc on 08 Jul 2008 at 3:55 am #
Manisha, you have no idea what the hell you are talking about so I won’t even reply to your statements.