Gay Sex Legal, Says India Government

NEW DELHI (AP) — The Indian government Tuesday clarified to the Supreme Court that it accepts a recent ruling legalizing gay sex in the country.

A lawyer told the Supreme Court that the government would not challenge a 2009 order by the Delhi High Court striking down a colonial-era law that made gay sex a crime.

The order was appealed by conservative groups and the Supreme Court is now hearing opinions from those groups as well as gay rights activists.

The latest statement comes days after another government lawyer told the court that gay sex was "highly immoral" and should be banned. The government quickly denied that lawyer's statement, prompting confusion about its stance on the law.

On Tuesday, a Supreme Court justice asked the government's lawyers to file an affidavit to reconcile the two divergent positions heard in court. Neither lawyer explained Thursday's confusion.

The 2009 high court order had said that treating consensual gay sex between adults as a crime was a violation of fundamental rights protected by India's constitution.

Sex between people of the same gender had been illegal in India since the 1860s, when a British colonial law classified it as "against the order of nature."

Prosecutions were rare, but the law was used frequently to harass people.

Over the last decade, homosexuals have slowly gained a degree of acceptance in some parts of India, especially its big cities. The last two years have also seen large gay pride parades in New Delhi and other big cities, including Mumbai and Kolkata.

Still, being gay remains deeply taboo in most of the country, and many gays and lesbians hide their sexual orientation from friends and relatives.

Earlier on HuffPost:

Comments

[one1byke]

01:13 PM on 04/22/2012

"G@y sex"... sounds loving.

[Rene Luke]

02:01 AM on 03/02/2012

Way to go, India!!!

Love is love and you are one step closer to being better than the republicans in our country.

[ZC1968]

02:56 PM on 02/29/2012

Statistics tell us that gay sex is often tied to substance abuse, promiscuity and unsafe sex practices. A significant minority of gay men also participate in sadomasochism, public sex in bathhouses and group sex

[lovingthismoment50]

09:18 PM on 02/29/2012

Statistics tell us that straight sex is often tied to substance abuse, prosmicuity and unsafe sex practices. A significant minority of straight men also participate in sadomasochism, public sex in bathhouses and group sex.

[Rahfee Zahkee]

09:46 PM on 02/29/2012

statistics tell us that internet posting is often tied to to substance abuse, prosmicuity and unsafe sex practices. A significant minority of internet posters also participate in sadomasochism, public sex in bathhouses and group sex.

[Ashok Pratim Bania]

01:51 AM on 03/02/2012

Hey stats tells a lot of things including the fact that 10% of men are gay .. so it can be your brother, your dad or your sister ...
Your statistics doesn't lie but the reason behind these statistics are as follows - If gays were accepted in society, they could have -
1. familial constructs - kids, schools, parent teacher meetings etc.
2. not indulge in surreptitious sex - which can lead to STDs or engage in sadomasochism - as humans we are not wired to embrace pain (pain and hunger are touted to be the worst afflictions)
3. adopted kids which are on roads or orphanages .. they world would have been a better place!

[bamboo princess]

12:36 PM on 02/29/2012

Can we agree that using the phrase GAY SEX is horrendous journalism?

[LIbislife]

01:29 PM on 02/29/2012

what would be the proper phrase?

[A Dub]

01:57 PM on 02/29/2012

NO

[John Crane]

08:51 AM on 02/29/2012

Just remember this. If government has the power to declare something legal. It also has the power to declare something illegal.

[A Dub]

01:57 PM on 02/29/2012

Your point?

[crabbyguy75]

04:53 AM on 02/29/2012

Instead of worrying about gay sex they should be worrying about the education of safe sex for all people.

[JadedNY]

07:05 PM on 02/29/2012

They are much more pro-sex-ed in schools than we are in America.

[Galician]

04:10 AM on 02/29/2012

Well done India! another good example of living in the XXI century!

[PeterinSydney]

03:51 AM on 02/29/2012

While India might just be starting to catch up on the real world of 21st Century, they are still ahead of the Catholic Bishops who want to belittle and eliminate gay people.

[MsMoonpieJD]

02:09 PM on 02/29/2012

The Catholics will tell you they "hate the sin but love the sinner." They are lying. If you are gay they hate your guts.

[PeterinSydney]

07:00 AM on 03/01/2012

Part of the problem is that many of the Bishops are themselves repressed gays, and are vicious to other gay people to try to cover themselves.

[lovingthismoment50]

02:20 AM on 02/29/2012

Great to see India taking a step of compassion, acceptance, and morality.

India's going in the right direction.

[ramkuv]

10:57 PM on 02/28/2012

Its a huge leap forward for India, Considering that US supreme court only legalized sodomy in 2003!

[atheist101]

03:45 AM on 02/29/2012

if USA and few other nations wouldn't have legalized that, I don't think India would have either

[Mplsuptown]

11:33 AM on 02/29/2012

Because the US is such a leader in everything ..right? First to give women the right to vote...not...first to end slavery...not....first to allow interracial marriage..not.

[JadedNY]

07:06 PM on 02/29/2012

I don't think every country in the world looks up to America. This aint the good ol' days. America is not at the top of everything. Other countries actually do what they want, and have their own rights! ANd they vote on things!

[ramonbatt]

08:38 PM on 02/28/2012

How ever they will kill you!!

[billnbstn]

08:19 PM on 02/28/2012

Has anyone told Chris Christie that he has single handily put NJ behind India.

[SouthStJo]

02:46 AM on 02/29/2012

Not for nothing, but New Jersey has civil unions.
That puts them on par with England and France

[Mplsuptown]

11:34 AM on 02/29/2012

Color his hair white, give him a white beard and dress him in red...Chris Christie = Kris Kringle - NOT

[MexiChick67]

06:13 PM on 02/28/2012

Another vestige of brutal English colonial rule is cast off from the proud nation of India.

[bbertaud]

08:39 PM on 02/28/2012

Now they have to get rid of the caste system....which has nothing to do with the Brits...right?

[Kendra Dawsey]

09:15 PM on 02/28/2012

cultural feelings are a different story but it is already legally banned in India

[Adiani]

10:51 PM on 02/28/2012

but the Brits have their own caste system, which is just as stifling and rigid, except they call it the "Class system"

[Liban CZ]

06:06 PM on 02/28/2012

At least population will go down.

[David N Taiwan]

06:56 AM on 02/29/2012

How so?

[Jim281]

05:16 PM on 02/28/2012

For those who consider gay sex "highly immoral", just don't do it. But stop trying to force your self-imposed restrictions on other consenting adults.

[Galician]

04:13 AM on 02/29/2012

I couldn't agree more!