Back in 2009, Lesley Esteves was dancing in the streets after judges in Delhi decriminalised homosexuality. When the Delhi High Court suspended the draconian Section 377 of the Indian penal code which dated from the days of British rule, India’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community thought there was no turning back.
Five years on the euphoria has gone. In December, the country’s highest court overturned the lower court’s ruling, once again making gay sex a crime punishable by up to ten years in jail and putting tens of millions of Indians at risk of prosecution or harassment. Last month, that court – which had said gay people in India were just a “minuscule minority” – upheld its decision against an appeal and said it was up to the government to change the law.
But there is little chance for that. While senior figures of the ruling Congress party supported repealing Section 377, the leadership of the main opposition party, which most analysts believe is set to secure power in an upcoming election, do not. As it was, the current parliament held its last session on Friday; it could be years before a new parliament amends the law.
“It was a shock for the whole world, not just for India,” Ms Esteves, who works as a journalist, said of the Supreme Court ruling. “Amidst the euphoria of 2009, I did not imagine the possibility that one day, the Supreme Court would brutally set the Delhi High Court judgment aside and dismiss India’s LGBT people. It’s hard to imagine words more out of sync with the inclusive and progressive Indian constitution.”
An Indian gay rights activistIndian activists shout slogans during a protest against the Supreme Court ruling reinstating a ban on gay sex, in Mumbai on December 11, 2013. India’s Supreme Court reinstated a colonial-era ban on gay sex on that could see homosexuals jailed for up to ten years in a major setback for rights campaigners in the world’s biggest democracy. (Photo Credit: PUNIT PARANJPEPUNIT PARANJPE/AFP/Getty Images)
Indian gay rights activists hold up placards as they take part in a protest against the Supreme Court ruling reinstating a ban on gay sex in Kolkata on December 15, 2013. India’s government said December 12 it would look at ways to swiftly reverse a shock ruling December 11, 2013 which reinstated a ban on gay sex, accusing the Supreme Court of dragging the country back to the 19th century. (Photo Credit: AFP/Dibyangshu SARKAR)In this Dec. 11, 2013 file photo, Lakshmi Tripathi, a transgender activist delivers a speech during a protest against a Supreme Court verdict that upheld section 377 of the Indian Penal Code that criminalizes homosexuality, in New Delhi, India. Gay-rights activists and health workers in India are warning that a new Supreme Court ruling criminalizing homosexuality will undo years of progress in fighting AIDS by driving gay and transgender people underground. (Photo Credit: AP/Altaf Qadri, File)An Indian gay rights activist holds up a placard during a protest after the country’s top court ruled that a colonial-era law criminalizing homosexuality will remain in effect in India in New Delhi, India, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2013. The Supreme Court threw out a 2009 New Delhi High Court decision that struck down the law as unconstitutional, dealing a blow to gay activists who have argued for years for the chance to live openly in India’s deeply conservative society. (Photo Credit: AP/Altaf Qadri)An Indian gay-rights activist takes part in a protest against the Supreme Court ruling reinstating a ban on gay sex in New Delhi on December 11, 2013. India’s Supreme Court reinstated a colonial-era ban on gay sex on that could see homosexuals jailed for up to ten years in a major setback for rights campaigners in the world’s biggest democracy. (Photo Credit: AFP PHOTO/ MANAN VATSYAYANAMANAN VATSYAYANA/AFP/Getty Images)
In New Delhi, India, a gay rights activist cries amid a protest against the Indian Supreme Court’s decision to reinstate a ban on gay sex.A child sitting on the shoulders of an Indian gay rights activist waves a rainbow-colored flag during a protest in New Delhi following a decision Wednesday by the country’s top court that a colonial-era law criminalizing homosexuality will remain in effect.
