The Plight of the homogeneous: Love that Sees no boundaries

Love, sex and Marriage!

A girl and a boy may fall in love.

A girl and a boy may have Sex.

A girl and a boy may get married.

Heterogeneity is the so called order of the nature.

What if a girl falls in love with a girl? Not every girl's prince charming is a prince. What if a boy has consensual carnal intercourse with a boy?

No No No!

It is against the order of the nature. It is unnatural.

The laws are strict. Very strict. You'll be thrown into prison.

Imprisonment for life, 

Or imprisonment for a term which may extend to 10 years.....

And fine!!

"Everyone knows what my sexual orientation is. If I need to spell it out, I won't only because I live in a country where I could possibly be jailed for saying this." 

                                                           - Karan Johar

Section 377 of Indian Penal Code (hereafter referred to as section 377) which Penalizes consensual carnal intercourse between two adults has continuously harassed LGBT people and thwarted HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment efforts.

Two judge bench of Honorable Supreme Court in Suresh Kumar Kaushal (2013) upheld the Constitutional validity of section 377 stating that:

"Only a miniscule fraction of the country's population constitute LGBT community and in last more than 150 years less than 200 persons have been prosecuted for committing the offence under section 377 IPC and this cannot make sound basis for declaring section 377 Ultra vires."

The judgment was major setback for LGBT community and its struggle for equality. It raised hues and cries and of course some unanswered questions!

• Can LGBT community be deprived of its basic and Fundamental right of Right to sexuality because of their numbers?

• What if there was only one Lesbian, one Gay, one bisexual or just one Transgender?

• Does it make him less Indian? And hence the Constitutional protection provided to all the citizens of the country can be taken away from him in the garb of miniscule fraction!

Justice Leila Seth once wrote in The Times of India that the judgment is like saying that:

"The Parsi community could be legitimately imprisoned or deported because they number only few tens of thousands".

The nine judge bench of Honorable Supreme Court in its latest judgment on Right to Privacy sat with an eraser to rub the erroneous, mischievous, flawed and retrograde verdict of 2013. While declaring that the Right to Privacy is a fundamental right, the bench discredited the astounding claim made in Suresh Kumar Kaushal that the Constitutional protection is available to a group on the basis of its size.

Supreme Court gave a reason for celebration to the so called miniscule fraction. They looked at this judgment as a foundation for anticipated change.

The verdict on Right to Privacy has a bearing on the Constitutionality of section 377 of IPC.

But again, should only Right to privacy (under Article 21 of the Constitution) be the ground for challenging section 377?

Is a husband justified in beating his wife in the privacy of his house?

Can we do anything in our private compartments?

The argument should be based upon the discrimination (violation of Art. 14 of the Constitution) and the arbitrariness of section 377. The validity of such laws should be tested on the touchstone of permissible reasonable restrictions on Fundamental Rights.

But, of course, the consummation of marriage or a consensual sex between two adults is a very personal thing. Everyone has Right to privacy. Nobody can dictate what position of sex they should prefer. Some people stand by missionary, others might use sex toys or any other kinkier thing. Isn't one justified in saying "My bedroom, My Rules"?

In a country where marital rape is not regarded as rape, a person may be punished for even a consensual carnal intercourse no matter with his wife. A man in Aurangabad was arrested for having carnal intercourse with his wife after she lodged FIR in Police station.

The unanimous reaction was - "one cannot force his wife to have unnatural sex." But what if it was voluntary? Still punishable. Why consent doesn't make a difference? The very act of voluntary carnal intercourse has been criminalized which leaves a gay with no way to enjoy his sexual life.

In a landmark judgment Supreme Court stated that the ‘Yogyakarta Principles on the Application of International Law in Relation to Issues of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity' should be applied as a part of Indian law.

The Yogyakarta Principles were developed by a coalition coordinated by the International Service for Human Rights and the International Commission of Jurists and were formally adopted by a meeting of experts in International law in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, in November 2006.

These principles provide guidance on the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexuals, transgender people and the obligations of states to promote these rights and ensure full equality.

Ninety nine countries which have signed a General Assembly Declaration of LGBT Rights or sponsored the Human Rights council's 2011 resolution of LGBT Rights support the legitimate demands of LGBT community.

The Canadian PM joined marchers in the streets of the city to celebrate LGBT equality.

The 44- year- old Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a Roman Catholic, has the pride of being World's first National leader to march in a Pride festival to celebrate and support LGBT Communities.

They are the people like you and me.

How can we forget Leo Varadkar? The son of an Indian immigrant who made history by becoming Ireland's youngest and first openly gay Prime Minister!

Leo marches with Pride. Source: Independent.ie

"It's not something that defines me. I'm not a half-Indian politician, or a doctor politician, or a gay politician, for that matter. It's just part of who I am. It doesn't define me. It is a part of my character, I suppose." 

-  Leo Varadkar

Countries such as Iceland, Belgium, Luxembourg and Serbia have had gay Prime Ministers.

Indian Novelist and poet Vikram Seth is a gay. He received many awards including Padma Shri, Sahitya Akedemi Award, WH Smith Literary award etc.

 Vikram Seth with his mother Justice Leila Seth. Source: The Hindu.com

While referring to her eldest son Vikram Seth, Justice Leila Seth in her response to the Supreme Court's Verdict in Suresh Kumar Kaushal wrote in the Times of India:

"Our eldest, Vikram, is now a criminal, an unapprehended felon. This is because, like many millions of other Indians, he is gay; and last month, two judges of the Supreme Court overturned the judgment of two judges of the Delhi High Court that, four years ago, decriminalized homosexuality. Now, once again, if Vikram falls in love with another man, he will be committing a crime punishable by imprisonment for life if he expresses his love physically. The Supreme Court judgment means that he would have to be celibate for the rest of his life- or else leave the country where he was born, and which he loves more than any other."

Son of Maharaja of Rajpipla in Gujarat, Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil is an openly gay Indian prince.  The life even for a gay Prince was not easy going. He had to encounter anger, criticism and what not from not only the warrior clan but also his own family members. Even a marriage with a princess which lasted for only 15 months without being consummated was not able to change his sexual orientation. With the disclosure of "Royal Secret", his parents put out a public notice and disowned and disinherited him in June 2006. 

Yuvraj Manvendra Singh on Oprah Show. Source: rediff.com

His story began spreading like a wildfire. He was invited by Oprah Winfrey as a guest on a segment called "Gays Around the World". Oprah dubbed Gohil as her favorite Royal. He used his position as a prince to fight for the rights of LGBT community and spread AIDS awareness through Lakshya Trust. His active involvement with LGBT issues kept him in limelight, and finally his family accepted him for what he was and he did not have to lead a double life.

I can cite endless examples of successful people from the so called Miniscule fraction to prove that they are not less than any homo sapiens in this world.

Love does not see any boundary, it has in the past led to the destruction of barriers like caste, creed and religion, it will soon destroy the wall of gender too. A fact everyone will be bound to admit. It is okay to be a "Homo". I see no reason as to why a homo should be forced to marry a hetero and hence lead an unsuccessful and double life when under Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Indian Constitution every citizen enjoys right to sexual orientation. There are enumerable reasons for the Court to declare this colonial era's Draconian law, which British themselves have abolished in their country in 1960, unconstitutional. Why should LGBT community still be deprived of their Constitutional rights?

No matter what race, religion, faith, gender or sexuality, we are all people and that's it. Sexual orientation and gender identity are integral to a human being and in no case it should lead to gender discrimination.

Let us agree that: "Hindu Muslim Sikh issai, Hetero Homo Bhai Bhai!"