Indian Supreme Court Re-Criminalizes Homosexuality

[Kulindahr]

They criticize the New Delhi court for citing international courts and then cite Antonin Scalia's opinion from 10 years ago...

Amazing, huh?

Her Majesty should publicly rebuke them for preferring the position of one jurist from outside the Commonwealth to the wealth of rulings from within that group.

 

[Alnitak]

Amazing, huh?

Look the guy obviously had an agenda. Everyone thought this issue was buried four years ago.

Her Majesty should publicly rebuke them for preferring the position of one jurist from outside the Commonwealth to the wealth of rulings from within that group.

Yeah well those days are long gone. The monarch has not been politically active for a century.

Even the government doesn't want to get involved, but I think that could be changed with pressure.

 

[Kulindahr]

Yeah well those days are long gone. The monarch has not been politically active for a century.

For something like this she should be -- seriously, it's like SCOTUS citing something from Lithuania while ignoring a dozen or more circuit court rulings.

Even the government doesn't want to get involved, but I think that could be changed with pressure.

I saw that. Wusses.

 

[Alnitak]

For something like this she should be -- seriously, it's like SCOTUS citing something from Lithuania while ignoring a dozen or more circuit court rulings.

Not exactly. Both India and the US are common law countries and Anglophonic. They are reasonably persuasive towards each other, but hypocrisy is really what should be called out.

I saw that. Wusses.

I don't know what the foreign relations are between the two. They should be amicable as both are in the Commonwealth of Nations.

 

[Kulindahr]

Not exactly. Both India and the US are common law countries and Anglophonic. They are reasonably persuasive towards each other, but hypocrisy is really what should be called out.

Okay, a little exaggerated.

I don't know what the foreign relations are between the two. They should be amicable as both are in the Commonwealth of Nations.

That's why Her Majesty should speak out.

Or she should have directed an official to say something along the lines of "We regret their lack of vision, but it is their country".

Or have Prince Harry describe it by saying, "Oh, that's fucked".

 

[Alnitak]

Okay, a little exaggerated.



That's why Her Majesty should speak out.

Or she should have directed an official to say something along the lines of "We regret their lack of vision, but it is their country".

India is in the Commonwealth of Nations, but it is not a Commonwealth realm like Canada.

 

[bankside]

India is in the Commonwealth of Nations, but it is not a Commonwealth realm like Canada.

This.

E II has no standing in Indian law; it is a republic.

Though that might make it easier. She would be "above politics" in the realms, but if equality were Commonwealth policy, she could speak on behalf of the whole, as its head.

After all, we did stomp on South Africa, under Diefenbaker. And again under Mulroney (the only principled thing he did.)

I may just suggest that to my MP, and Minister Baird of Foreign Affairs. (He is, as conservatives go, staunchly supportive of equality in our foreign policy.)

Commonwealth policy should require equality. If India doesn't like it they can leave, as was the case with South Africa 60 years ago.

 

[Kulindahr]

This.

E II has no standing in Indian law; it is a republic.

Though that might make it easier. She would be "above politics" in the realms, but if equality were Commonwealth policy, she could speak on behalf of the whole, as its head.

That's kinda what I was thinking.

 

[Alnitak]

Commonwealth policy should require equality. If India doesn't like it they can leave, as was the case with South Africa 60 years ago.

It would be impossible. The African and Caribbean countries would leave.

 

[bankside]

The word you might want is "desirable," not "impossible." Let them go. The Commonwealth is for grown-ups.

 

[Kulindahr]

It would be impossible. The African and Caribbean countries would leave.

That's why though the UK government should have expressed disappointment, they should have noted that it is, after all, the Indians' country.

The word you might want is "desirable," not "impossible." Let them go. The Commonwealth is for grown-ups.

Heh. I think the other view is that it is also for helping the slow ones grow up.

 

[zoltanspawn]

What these people think matters.

If I may make a gross generalization, what these people think is that the traditional format of family/community is more important than the sexual desires of its members. While we in the West might think gay people are forced/choose to 'live a lie' in a heterosocial marriage, our counterparts in India may reply that we liberated gays are merely deluded in a different way. The conservative Indian might say we Westerners live with a kind of loneliness which is every bit as alien to them, as our sense of their sexually unfulfilled lives is alien to us.

I have always found these questions comparing the fruitfulness of sexual fulfillment versus family happiness in this sort of cross-cultural context to be some of the hardest to figure. I look askance at anyone who offers pat answers.

That said, I wish millions of gay shaadis for India's future. If the focus in India is placed on marriage, and not just sex, the strength of the community may be preserved.

Of course, there are a lot of status-obsessed mader chods in India who only give a crap about the prestige/shame of their family, with total disregard to the happiness of it members. And these folks should pretty much go to hell.

 

[Alnitak]

That's why though the UK government should have expressed disappointment, they should have noted that it is, after all, the Indians' country.

The UK took too long to come around on homosexuality before decolonization took place. Subsaharan Africa would almost certainly be free of sodomy laws by now as South Africa is.

In contrast, the former French and Belgian colonies in Africa such as Rwanda, the CAR, Cote d'Ivoire, Mali, and the DR Congo, by and large do not have sodomy laws. The former UK colonies unfortunately missed decriminalization by only a few years.

See how the horseshoe of French colonies around Nigeria are devoid of gay sex bans as France has been free of sodomy laws since Napoleon.

 

[Redsox]

Based on the decision in Australia yesterday, whereby the High Court over-ruled same-sex marriage in the ACT, the new conservative Abbott government would be seeking the same result if they could get away with it. This government is doing its utmost to get back to Victorian times. Even New Zealand is more progressive.

 

[chrisrobin]

These need to be burned... or else.

 

[Alnitak]

Based on the decision in Australia yesterday, whereby the High Court over-ruled same-sex marriage in the ACT, the new conservative Abbott government would be seeking the same result if they could get away with it. This government is doing its utmost to get back to Victorian times. Even New Zealand is more progressive.

New Zealand passed women's suffrage a decade before Australia. The latter has a reputation for socially conservative government, as does the federal government of the US. We don't even have a federal non-discrimination law, and the military gay ban was only just repealed. Like the US, there is a vigorous religious conservative political movement in Australia, the Australian Christian Lobby. For some reason Australian politicians are deathly afraid of them despite same sex marriage being very popular.

 

[chrisrobin]

.
A Small Ray of Hope?

Facebook Users Go 'Gay For A Day' To Support LGBT India

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/...-day_n_4439534.html?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592

I'm glad to see GLBT India pushing back. Don't quit!

 

[T-Rexx]

^ A funny thing is that one of the arguments the justices used in supporting their re-criminalization of homosexuality in India was that there were so few gays in India that there was really nobody there who needed protection from anti-gay discrimination.

 

[Kulindahr]

^
^
Only a day? They should pick one day of the week and do this every week!

I wonder if they were inspired by Germany's hunks-kissing campaign?

 

[Kulindahr]

^ A funny thing is that one of the arguments the justices used in supporting their re-criminalization of homosexuality in India was that there were so few gays in India that there was really nobody there who needed protection from anti-gay discrimination.

Uh huh.

Fans of Ahmadinejad, I guess.