India’s Supreme Court. (Photo by Legaleagle86; courtesy Wikimedia Commons)
NEW DELHI, India (AP) | The India Supreme Court on September 6 ruled consensual same-sex sexual relations are no longer criminalized in the country.
The ruling, which was unanimous, struck down India’s colonial-era sodomy law known as Section 377.
The Delhi High Court in 2009 struck down the statute, but the Supreme Court in 2013 overruled the ruling. Indian lawmakers in 2015 rejected a bill that would have repealed Section 377.
The Supreme Court in January said it would reconsider its 2013 ruling. It held oral arguments in a case that challenged Section 377 in July.
Activists across India, which is the world’s second-most populous country, and around the world celebrated Thursday’s landmark ruling.
“Today we are feeling very proud,” Meera Parida, president of All Odisha Kinnar Mahasangh, a group that advocates on behalf of India’s transgender and gender-variant communities, told the Washington Blade on WhatsApp. “It is a win for humanity.”
Ruth Baldacchino and Helen Kennedy, co-secretaries general of ILGA, in a statement also welcomed the ruling.
“We rejoice with all sexual, gender and sex minorities communities in India,” they said. “As of today, a shameful part of an enduring colonial legacy is finally history. We hope that this ruling, which was made possible by the tireless work of many human rights advocates, will have an impact also on other countries around the world where our communities continue to live under the shadow of oppressive criminal laws, especially those that share a common legal heritage with India, as far afield as Africa, the Pacific and Caribbean.”
The Blade will update this story.
