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Disclaimer: There is Adult Language in the post: You have been warned . Though I do agree that youngsters today are much more aware of such topics , I would still ask people with <18 years on this planet to not read ahead.<——–Moral Police, there!! I have the warning.
Also ,I am not a lawyer ,so if you find my interpretation wrong, feel free to point it out and lash against my ignorance publically on this forum. Make me suffer
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There is currently a huge uproar over criminalisation of Gay sex by Supreme court of India. This post is an attempt to explain what exactly happened and what is article 377
Article 377. Unnatural offences: Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment of either description for term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.
When was this introduced: 1861
What does it mean?: It means that a law made in 1861 is still dictating how people are allowed and not allowed to have sex. The main point to note here is “carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal”
What is being Banned:
Carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal
Carnal Intercourse: Basically intercourse of sexual nature . The general consensus is that every kind of intercourse that you are thinking about at this moment is carnal intercourse.
Against the order of nature: This is basically the point of contention. What is against the order of nature? As per the definition, anything that is not supposed to provide life.
Hence gay sex ,which cannot produce children because none of the gay men have the orifice which is as per the order of nature to produce children(Vaginas) , stands criminalised.
With any man, woman or animal: I guess many people missed this point. It is not just the gay men but also the hetrosexual men and women who are covered under this ambit. Basically If you use any other orifice except Vagina, the police can arrest you and put you behind bar for 10 years.No fellatio my friend(I am sure you are googling the meaning right now), basically no Oral Sex or anal sex (there I said it).
Also : No animals, I guess that is explanatory
What is Not being banned: Being Gay(Lawyers may correct me here). There is a difference between being Gay and actually having gay sex. It is same as being hetrosexual but not having sex. You can still shout on top of your voice that you are Gay ,but unless it can be proved that you had sex with another man , you are not a criminal .
So what happened in Supreme Court:
In a landmark ruling by Delhi High court “Naz Foundation v. NCT of Delhi”(That is how court cases are named) on 2 July 2009, the high court said that the article 377 was unconstitutional with respect to sex between consenting adults. (If I had simply said that it was made unconstitutional, many trolls would have jumped at the “Animal” clause, so here you go, animals is still an offence). This ruling was landmark ,as for the first time the courts recognised that sex is not just a means to have babies.
Supreme court on the other hand said: NO WAYYYY Dude , you cannot change the law just like that, it is Written, even though it is outdated and discriminatory. If there is a law and the government has not removed it, it must be something people want(Remember government is the voice of the people). Hence the Law stands and you can be punished if you publicly say that you have had Oral sex or Anal sex with anyone, your Gay partner or your spouse.
Yes the very same homophobes who fought for this law may be committing the same crime every night.
***Random Commentary Starts********
So basically the whole idea is centred around “Against the order of nature” i.e. unnatural. If the Homophobes(mostly religious organizations) won this round , why can they not challenge other things , such as use of condoms? Isn’t that also against the order of nature because they prevent child birth? How about sex after menopause? Or people with fertility issues?
You can stretch your imagination to any extent here.
The supreme Court had the opportunity to make history, they lost it.
And it can lead to extreme harassment of Gay individuals by police , because interpretation of the law may be different for different people and may be also defined by how homophobic they are. They can also disrupt the distribution of condoms ,stalling the fight against HIV Aids.
And only Gay people may be further pushed to the undergrounds, even though the law is NOT JUST against Gay people.
So even if you are a homophobe but you and your hetrosexual partner still enjoy Oral sex, you gotta support the LGBT community in this one: Fight for your right to fellatio.
My stand on this: I have said it before also and saying it again. This article violates the rights of people. I fully completely stand behind the people of India(Surprise homophobes… many hetrosexuals actually support abolishing this article, hence people of India and not the Gay community) who support abolishing this article and reinstating the delhi high court ruling. I see no reason why someone’s bedroom habits can effect the moral fabric of society or in any way should affect me. Being gay is not a matter of choice, it is simply a matter of biological orientation.
What next: The ball is in government’s court now. They have not bothered to repeal the law , I guess it’s high time.
Positive thing is that Congress(Sonia Gandhi) and AAP have publicly supported abolishing this , but sadly BJP is awfully quite. Modi has also not made any statement yet.I am not sure about other political patios
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