India Supreme Court To Review Repeal Of Decriminalization Of Homosexuality

Last week the Dehli High Court issued a landmark ruling rolling back a colonial era law prohibiting homosexual sex in India. Yesterday the India Supreme Court said it will hear an objection to the law's repeal brought by....an astrologer.

In his petition, Sushil Kumar Kaushal said “even animals don’t indulge in such activities,” adding that allowing gay sex would help spread HIV/AIDS. The latest development indicated that despite a recent Delhi High Court ruling, gays in India still face a long battle to gain acceptance - social and legal - in this deeply conservative country where even heterosexual sex is talked about in hushed tones. “If such abnormality is permitted, then tomorrow people might seek permission for having sex with animals,” Kaushal said. Gays in India are shackled by a law known as Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which makes sex between people of the same gender punishable by up to 10 years in prison. The British colonial era law classifies gay sex as “against the order of nature.”

The Supreme Court will hear the astrologer's complaint on July 20th and has invited the Indian government and a gay rights group to speak as well. Their ruling will be binding nationwide.