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Uploaded: 05 Sep 2018 (8 years ago) · Shared: 06 Sep 2018
Duration: 4:12
Uploaded: 05 Sep 2018 (8 years ago) · Shared: 06 Sep 2018
Duration: 4:12
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Gay sex is legal in India. That was the judgement of the the Supreme Court in New Delhi Thursday, which struck down a colonial-era law that bannedhomosexual acts with the threat of prison. The ruling sparked jubilant scenes across the country, the culmination of a decades-long struggle for India’s LGBTQ movement.
The landmark ruling from the five judge bench overturned the 157-year-old law known as Section 377, which banned sex “against the order of nature.”
The court ruled unanimously that the law amounted to discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, and constituted a fundamental violation of rights.
“Sexual orientation is one of the many natural phenomena,” said Chief Justice Dipak Misra in his decision. “Any discrimination on basis of sexual orientation amounts to violation of fundamental rights.”
“Criminalizing carnal intercourse is irrational, arbitrary and manifestly unconstitutional.'
The ruling represents a long-awaited victory for the LGBTQ community, which has waged a tortuous battle to legalize homosexuality in recent decades. Cases were filed to repeal the law in 1994 and 2001, before the Delhi High Court finally ruled in favor of decriminalization within its jurisdiction in 2009.
But conservative religious and political groups immediately pushed back, lobbying for the law to be restored; in 2013 the Supreme Court unexpectedly overturned the earlier judgment.
The 2013 ruling stated that because Section 377 had been used so infrequently, and because only a “minuscule fraction of the country's population constitute lesbians, gays, bisexuals or transgenders,” the law couldn’t be considered to violate Indians’ constitutional rights and it was therefore “legally unsustainable” to repeal it.
That reasoning baffled and dismayed LGBTQ activists, who filed a petition to overturn the decision, resulting in Thursday’s judgment — which represents the final say in the matter.
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What is Homosexual?Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction or sexual behavior between members of the same gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to people of the same sex. It also refers to a person's sense of identity based on those attractions, related behaviors, and membership in a community of others who share those attractions.
Who are Vice News?Vice News (stylized as VICE News) is Vice Media, Inc current affairs channel. Producing daily documentary essays and video through its website and YouTube channel. It promotes itself on its coverage of "under-reported stories". Vice News was created in December 2013 and is based in New York City, though it has bureaus worldwide. Vice Media expanded its international news division into an independent division dedicated to news exclusively and created Vice News. Vice Media put $50 million into its news division, setting up 34 bureaus worldwide and drawing praise for its in-depth coverage of international news. Vice News has primarily targeted a younger audience comprised predominantly of millennials, the same audience to which its parent company appeals.
