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In 2009 the New Delhi High Court issued a landmark ruling decriminalizing homosexuality. That judgment prompted religious and political groups to petition the Indian Supreme Court to overturn the ruling. Today the Supreme Court deferred their decision until "after summer vacations."
Senior BJP leader B P Singhal, who had approached the High Court opposing legalisation of gay sex, has challenged the verdict in the Supreme Court saying such acts are illegal, immoral and against ethos of Indian culture. Religious organisations like the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, Utkal Christian Council and Apostolic Churches Alliance have opposed the High Court's verdict. Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Right, Tamil Nadu Muslim Munn Kazhgam, astrologer Suresh Kumar Kaushal and yoga guru Ramdev have also opposed the verdict in the apex court.Indian activists are disappointed that the Court refused to reject the petitions entirely. Below, Australian television covers the issue in a report filed before today's deferment.
"The male sex is growing and women are getting eliminated. The days are not far when there will be no girls to marry and we’ll all become gays. We never told people the truth, sometimes truth is bitter, we may not win elections but time has come when we must tell people, what is right. And the truth is the population is growing at a much faster rate and unfortunately male sex is growing faster and women are being eliminated, I don’t know whether the time will come. We will all become gays, that might happen." - Indian Energy Minister Farooq Abdullah, reacting to new census figures showing a growing disparity between male and female births.
NOTE: Abdullah makes no mention of India's historic problem with rampant female infanticide and sex-selective abortion.
The Australian site SameSame reports that an Indian television has conducted a "sting" to out men using a gay dating site.
The report from news channel TV9 Telugu shows people searching through gay youths profiles on online dating/social networking website planetromeo.com. The men found on the website were labeled ‘deviants’ and photos of them, along with personal information such as names, were clearly displayed. Extremely private information about one user – including his penis size, fetishes, and his preferred sexual position – was shown in the report. The item continued with phone-call ‘gay-stings’ of two of the website’s users whose profiles and faces were also shown. During the calls an investigator posed as a planetromeo.com user and the men are covertly asked questions about their sexual lives and preferences. Homosexual activity in India, while legalised in 2009, still remains a cultural taboo within wider Indian society and government.Outraged Indian activists have told the station that it will be held responsible for any reprisals or physical attacks made against the men it outed. The station has since removed the report from its official YouTube channel, but others have reposted the clip. An English translation of the video can be found at the above link.
