Same Sex Rights in New Delhi, India

On Monday, December 1st, 2014, Al Jazeera reported that hundreds took to the streets in New Delhi, India, following legislation again criminalizing homosexuality. According to the report, “Multi-coloured balloons, masquerade masks and wigs, a huge rainbow flag and a St. Bernard dog ushered in the seventh Delhi Queer Pride parade, with many shaking their hips to drum beats. Participants chanting “Azaadi” (freedom) and shouting slogans such as “I’m gay, that’s OK” carried banners and placards demanding their right to love.”

The introduction of the law is indeed a human rights violation. The Indian government is repressing individual rights, and is discriminating based on a person’s sexual orientation. The government, under Prime Minister Nerendra Modi must speak out against this law. However, according to the report, “Some participants said they had little faith that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government would revoke Section 377, despite having a majority in the lower house of parliament. Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is a right-wing nationalist outfit perceived to be more conservative than the previous Congress-led government” (Al Jazeera, 2014). Furthermore, “Modi has not publicly commented on the issue of homosexuality, although his colleague Rajnath Singh had called gay sex “unnatural” in the wake of the December court ruling. Some BJP politicians such as Arun Jaitley have said that gay sex should be decriminalized” (Al Jazeera, 2014).

There must be domestic and international pressure on the government to reverse this action. Same sex rights are fundamental rights, and must be advocated and protected as such. Governments who back such laws against same-sex rights must stop treating these individuals as if they have no such rights; activists must continue to write, protest, and call for the restoring of these rights, or, in cases where the state has never protected them, the full implementation of these rights protections.