Section 377: A battle may be won, but the war still remains

The LGBT community has lived with the stigma attached to their identities and the entire fight was to be treated equally.

In 2009, when the Delhi High Court had decriminalised consensual sexual acts between adults of the same sex in private, it was a relief for few in the country, but again the sword hung on their heads when in 2013, the law was reiterated by the Supreme Court who set aside the Delhi High Court judgement and put the ball in Parliament’s court to decide the fate of individuals.

As the Supreme Court passed it’s judgement of decriminalising gay sex, members of the LGBTQIA community in Pune said that there is still a long way to get social equality and acceptance. Sure the community was upbeat with the decision but they also expressed their apprehensions of being accepted by the society. Marriages, child adoption are still difficult but the verdict is a thumping win. Now, it’s not a fight for freedom, it’s a fight to keep our freedom.

LGBTQ were ridiculed when Congress leader Shashi Tharoor made two attempts of inviting the interest of the house for discussion but he was turned down and instead he was called ‘gay’. There have been so many time when we have used gay as a swear word.

On the other hand, there are politicians like Subramanian Swamy who said that homosexuality is a mental disorder. Rajnath Singh said that he wouldn’t support ‘unnatural homosexuality’. Sushma Swaraj said that gay people cannot avail surrogacy because it is against the Indian ethos. Yogi Adityanath said that it is an unnatural act and cannot be supported. Time and again, our politicians have stood against what’s as natural as breathing.

Our educational system are still not accepting queer persons. How many times have we learnt about queer persons in our textbooks? How many decision making seats are filled by queer persons? How many times have we called a person ‘gay’ because he was wearing a pink t-shirt? How many times have we trolled a person for the way they walk or talk?

Ultimately, I would like to end with the words which ring in my ears while I am writing this. Dr BR Ambedkar said, “Ours is a battle not for wealth; nor for power, ours is a battle for freedom; for reclamation of human personality.”

Also read: Section 377 Verdict: United Nations calls first step towards full fundamental rights to LGBT