Gay community hails SC decision *[ Saturday, February 04, 2006 12:43:27 am TIMES NEWS NETWORK ]* **MUMBAI: The supreme court's decision to send the anti-sodomy lawSection 377 of the Indian Penal Codeback to the Delhi high court has received a cautious welcome from the lesbian and gay community in Mumbai.
"The apex court's decision gives the community another chance to urge for decriminalisation of homosexuality. Positive developments around the world, including gay marriages in England, might have been responsible for this change of stand," said Seema (name changed), a lesbian activist. Ashok Row Kavi, gay activist and founder of Humsafar, said the changed perception had a lot to do with the community speaking in unison. However, Kavi was apprehensive that the case would again be heard by the Delhi high court, which had earlier dismissed the petition. But he welcomed the change in the government's stand. "The government's admission that it is not a moral issue but one concerning the lives of people is an important departure." Humsafar had collected testimonies from gay men who were harassed by the police and these were part of Naz Foundation's petition in the apex court... Several NGOs have contended that the law, which punishes anyone who has sexual intercourse "against the order of nature", is used to harass gay men and lesbian women. TNN The law also prevents NGOs to carry out HIV awareness drives among these groups. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Group Site: http://www.gaybombay.info ========================== 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. Post:- gay_bombay@yahoogroups.com Subscribe:- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Digest Mode:- [EMAIL PROTECTED] No Mail Mode:- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Individual Mail Mode:- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Contact Us:- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives are at http://www.mail-archive.com/gay_bombay%40yahoogroups.com/maillist.html Classifieds for personal advertisements are back on www.gaybombay.info site. Please exercise restraint in the language of your personal advertisement. Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gay_bombay/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
