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The venue for National Meeting Against IPC 377 to be held on 12th and 13th of December, 2004 in Bangalore has been fixed at URBAN HEALTH RESEARCH AND TRAINING
INSTITUTE The meeting would start at 10 a.m. in the morning of 12th. All participants are requested to arrive the night before or early in the mroning of 12th. Please inform us at the earliest about your participation, arrival and departure and if you want us to book your accomodation. A copy of the invitation letter is pasted below. Kindly circulate the invitation to all groups and networks widely. Thank You Mamu Dear friend(s) Sec 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), criminalizes 'carnal intercourse against the order of nature' (many Indian Judges consider all sexual acts other than penile-vaginal sex as unnatural) and is used by the police widely to threaten/blackmail/extort money from kothis, doubledeckers, homosexual/bisexual men and hijras. Sexuality minorities from the poor backgrounds and male/transgender sex-workers are worst affected by IPC 377, as they have to use public spaces a lot of time. There are judicial decisions that have criminalized sexual activities like fellatio (oral stimulation of penis), cunnilingus (oral stimulation of vagina) and anal sex. The punishment for these 'criminal activities' can be anything between ten years to life imprisonment. Though both sexuality minorities and heterosexuals engage in anal and oral sex, only sexuality minorities are perceived to be engaging in these 'deviant' sexual practices by the moralistic police and society. In Indian democracy, where every citizen is promised equal rights and non-discrimination, IPC 377 obstructs sexuality rights and right to life/liberty/privacy of every individual and the attainment of human rights of marginalized sexuality minorities. Various groups, organisations and individuals working for the rights of sexuality minorities, sex-workers, human rights have been raising their voices against IPC 377 in different parts of India for a few years now. There have been legal interventions, public protests and innumerable discussions around IPC 377. Needless to say the process has not been a smooth one and has faced opposition and antagonism from the state to the public due to the largely queerphobic attitude of our society, its systems and their keepers. The latest blow to this process has come from Delhi High Court, when the court dismissed a petition on IPC 377 (requesting the court to read it down to exclude consensual sexual acts between adults in private) filed by Lawyers Collective on behalf of Naz Foundation (India) Trust. Same court has dismissed the petition to review their judgement. We feel there is a need to coordinate all our efforts all over India in order to build public opinion, only which can eventually yield pressure on the system to repeal this anti-human rights law. The process will also help in changing societal attitudes towards sexuality minorities. In this regard, we are organising a national meeting to discuss future strategies for coordinated efforts against 377 in Bangalore on the 12th and 13th of December, 2004. We invite everyone to be present in this meeting and lend your support, ideas and suggestions so that we can all together design a nation-wide plan to abolish IPC 377. Friends, please confirm your participation at the earliest so that we can organise your stay and take care of other logistical details for the meeting. As we have limited funds, we regret that we will not be able to provide travel, stay and food expenses for everyone. However, we will be able to provide second class train fare and accomodation to a limited number of participants. The stay and food should cost around Rs. 400-500 per person. Please, once again, confirm your participation at the earliest. Please circulate this invitation widely. In Solidarity, SANGAMA along with Alternative Law Forum (Bangalore), Bharosa (Lucknow), FIRM (Trivandrum), Lawyers Collective, Naz Foundation (India) Trust, Parma/Vikalp (Baroda), PUCL–Karnataka, Sahodaran (Chennai), Saksham (Rajamundry, AP), Sangram (Sangli), SIAAP (Tamilnadu), Snegyitham (Trichy), SWAM (Chennai), WINS (Tirupati) Contact Persons: Mamu and Manohar Phone: 09880223470 (Mamu), 09880223460 (Manohar), 080 22868680/121 (SANGAMA) Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Address: SANGAMA, Flat 13, Royal Park Apartments, 34 Park Road, Tasker Town, Bangalore – 560051. Group Site: http://www.gaybombay.info ========================== NEW CLASSIFIEDS SECTION SEEKING FRIENDS? VISIT www.gaybombay.info click on classified section and type your message in the post section once the link opens This message was posted to the gay_bombay Yahoo! Group. Responses to messages (by clicking "Reply") will also be posted on the eGroup and sent to all members. If you'd like to respond privately to the author of any message then please compose and send a new email message to the author's email address. For Parties and evenets go to: http://calendar.yahoo.com/YYY,04497/srt,0/gaybombaygroup/?v=42&POS= Post:- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe:- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Digest Mode:- [EMAIL PROTECTED] No Mail Mode:- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Individual Mail Mode:- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Contact Us:- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Groups Homepage:- http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gay_bombay Unsubscribe:- [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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