As a gay Indian this is a great news! but it is one thing to decriminalize it legally and complete different thing for societal acceptance and leading a normal life as gay person in India. For an average gay person in India this doesn’t change much. There is still a long way to go. This law was never a problem for me but my family and relative and neighbors are. But it is a good progress.
Remarkable decision. Although, this is just a small step of a long road to a culture that understands and accepts the LGBT community, a step nonetheless. It's very fortunate that the democratic structure of India allows courts to make rational, liberal decisions. They are not encumbered by petty politics or vote banks.<p>Living in India is not easy. Every other day you have a reason to astonish over the regressiveness of people around you. Today, I get to have a momentary joy—at least there is something that works.
Something to note here is that it is not just gay sex that is legalised - the prohibition was on "carnal intercourse against the order of nature" which included straight anal sex as well as oral sex. Of course, these are less important as this was never enforced, but weird to think that these things were technically illegal.
Note that same sex marriage is still not legalised! We still have a long way to go before the idea of a same-sex couple becomes commonplace in our society.
Irony is that a British news outlet is posting about it when they were the ones who introduced that law in India before 157 years!!<p>Anyway, a great step in the right direction!
This is a big deal, though it might seem like nothing has changed on the ground (as one commenter here has put it). It may take longer for society to accept it, depending on the city/town/village, but there is now a strong legal basis for not being harassed by the police.<p>I don't see the current central government doing anything in terms of legislation on gay marriage or related aspects, but we will get there.<p>There's a long way to go to ensure that LGBTQIA people are also treated as humans, but it was also long overdue to get such a landmark judgment, and by no less than a constitutional bench!
This is a welcome step. It was good to see the Government not being a road-block in this case[1]. Hopefully, future decisions which make life easier for LGBT folks will be taken in the Parliament and Legislative Assemblies instead of courtrooms.<p>1. <a href="https://blogs.economictimes.indiatimes.com/et-commentary/section-377-sooner-or-later-the-government-will-have-to-deal-with-homosexual-lives/" rel="nofollow">https://blogs.economictimes.indiatimes.com/et-commentary/sec...</a>
The judicary is independent from the government. That's why inspite of the current ruling party BJP being so outspokennly against LGBT, it got legalized. Thanks to the judicary department.
The headline is weird - instead of legalising, it should say "decriminalises" in my opinion. Someone made it illegal at some point. The headline now seems to indicate "we've made a new law that allows it", but that makes it like it's an exception.
The concept of only a few deciding on societal mores, which we also saw in the US, should be seen as a real problem, even if you agree with the position of the "black-robed tyrants"...<p>A vigorous debate in society, which should have occurred, has been short-circuited.
The phrase "legalises gay sex" is surreal and otherworldly to me. We recent fought for marriage in Australia. Shocking to think they were and are still so backwards as to make that headline possible.
Stories like this really the limits of the HN community's civility and tolerance for diverse views.<p>I encourage everyone to post and up/down vote according to the best traditions of HN.
This is great, though it also illustrates how much farther India (and other countries) have to go in legal protection of LGBT people.<p>Also, a bit off-topic here, but it also reveals how stupid and hypocritical California's policy is, forbidding travel of state employees to US states that don't grant certain protections to transgender people. You can't go to Oklahoma because they don't have self-selection for bathrooms, but travel to places like India and China is just fine, for some reason.