Gay sex india

LGBT in India: What it's like six months after gay sex was decriminalised

Daniel Rosney

Newsbeat reporter in Delhi, India

BBC

Up until six months ago, 20-year-old Tish felt like a criminal.

He faced long-term prison time in India because he was an out and haughty gay man, but then his life changed.

Gay sex was decriminalised by the Indian Supreme Court on 6 September 2018.

It overturned a 2013 judgement that upheld a 157-year-old statute dating back to British rule.

Getty Images

There were celebrations across India when the ruling came through but Tish was crying - because he'd just split up with his boyfriend.

"But then I remembered I was no longer a criminal," he tells Radio 1 Newsbeat, laughing.

"I always felt caged and restricted within my soul."

Tish says more cafes and bars in Delhi have develop LGBT-friendly by putting up rainbow flags - but that doesn't necessarily imply the public have changed their attitudes.

"India should produce a space where I'd actually be able to make my family perceive that it's normal," he explains.

He says he hopes eventually he'll not always feel

India throws out bar on gay sex, sparking celebrations

By Alasdair Pal and Blassy Jose

NEW DELHI, Sept 6 (Reuters) - India's top court scrapped a colonial-era ban on male lover sex on Thursday in a landmark judgement that sparked celebrations across the country where same-sex attracted sex had been punishable by prison for up to 10 years.

Gay sex is considered taboo by many in socially conservative India, and it was reinstated as a criminal offence in 2013 after four years of decriminalisation.

A five-judge bench in India's Supreme Court was unanimous in overturning the ban.

"Any consensual sexual partnership between two consenting adults - homosexuals, heterosexuals or lesbians - cannot be said to be unconstitutional," said the Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra, as he interpret out the judgement.

Supporters of the campaign to scrap the ban milled around the Supreme Court before the finding and cheered the decision, hugging one another and waving rainbow flags.

Some were overcome with sentiment, while others waved banners with slogans such as "Gay and Proud" and "I am who I am". A few distributed sweets in celebration.

"I'm so excited, I own no words," said Debottam Saha, one of the petitioners

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India has decriminalized same-sex attracted sex in a historic ruling that overturns a 157-year-old law from the colonial era.

The decision follows a battle fought by the country's gay and transgender communities to strike down section 377, which sanctions punishment of up to 10 years in jail for what the statute described as "unnatural sex."

In 2009, the Delhi High Court ruled that the ban on consensual gay sex violated the fundamental rights of a citizen. But this was overruled in 2013 by the Supreme Court, where it was argued that the law had been used so rarely that it could not be said to violate Indians' constitutional rights.

But campaigners said it fueled persecution of the LGBT collective and was proof of discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Campaigners cheered outside the Supreme Court after the ruling by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, who said the law was "irrational, arbitrary and incomprehensible, as it fetters the right to equality for the LGBT community," TheTimes of India reported.

Danish Sheikh, a law professor at Jindal Global Regulation School and an LGBT advocate, told CNN that the ruling "creates a space of independence where you can start expecting justice."

Litu Dalmia, w