bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Hundreds of gays and lesbians marched through the streets of the Indian capital on Sunday, the first parade in New Delhi since the Supreme Court reinstated a colonial-era ban on gay sex.
Wearing rainbow wigs and waving colourful flags and posters with messages such as “All love is equal”, members of the community and their supporters marched to celebrate their sexual freedom and to ask others to understand.
One of the organisers, Shiv Sahu, said there was anger about the Supreme Court ruling which marchers branded a violation of equality.
“There is a lot of frustration, but we are not going back to the closet,” said Sahu, 37, who wore a rainbow-coloured turban.
He said several members of the gay community had filed petitions to the top court asking for a review of the order criminalising gay sex.
Gay pride marches have also been held in Bangalore and the entertainment capital Mumbai since the court’s ruling in December last year.
The Supreme Court struck down a 2009 ruling by a lower court that decriminalised gay sex.
It said responsibility for changing the 1861 law rested with lawmakers and not the courts.
Gay sex had been effectively legalised in 2009 when the Delhi High Court ruled that a section of the penal code banning “carnal intercourse against the order of nature” was an infringement of fundamental rights.
Anjali Gopalan, founder of AIDS awareness group Naz Foundation, said the two conflicting verdicts had left the gay community feeling insecure and vulnerable.
“The courts have literally asked people to go back into the closet after coming out,” said Gopalan, whose group led the 2009 case.
While gay rights groups say the law is rarely used to prosecute homosexual acts, they add that police do use it to harass and blackmail members of their community.
Surveys show widespread disapproval of homosexuality in India, obliging many gay men and women to live double lives.
Hindu right-wing groups have been especially vocal about their dislike of same-sex couples, calling such relationships a disease and a Western cultural import.
“It is against nature, it is against the values and against the heritage of the country,” said Vinod Bansal, a spokesman for the Vishva Hindu Parishad or World Hindu Council, ahead of the march.


Hundreds march in India capital’s gay pride parade after shock ruling 

Indian members and supporters of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) community hold placards as they walk underneath a rainbow flag during the Gay Pride Parade. Photo: AFP

News

Asia