Decriminalization of Homosexuality: Are the sufferings over?

In a country like India, which has always criticized homosexuality for different reasons, a landmark judgment was passed by the Supreme Court on September 06, 2018. Now the law has given the right of consensual sex between any two adults; thereby decriminalizing the sex between homosexuals. This is surely a great moment for the country and for all of its citizens, but is it enough? Is giving legality to sex between consenting homosexuals enough for making the country a livable place for LGBTQ? Is the fight over? The answer is NO.

In our society, we have some weird and illogical assumptions to live a life. When we see a boy and a girl together on a road, we barely take time to consider them as a couple, keeping aside the fact that they can be siblings, cousins, or just friends; but we don’t do so when we see two same gender people together; but if same gender people are in a relationship we frown our eyes to them. De facto, when it comes to a relationship, the society always see a male and a female as an ideal couple, and any other combination still seems absurd to hundreds and thousands of people. We allow the same gender people to be roommates for years but when we see opposite sex people living together without marriage we spy upon them, disregard them as living relationships in Indian society are a taboo. So this whole concept of what is an ideal person or an ideal relationship in the eyes of society is pretty absurd and sometimes illogical. There are other absurd things too that are believed and followed in Indian Society but not worthy to mention in relation to this subject matter.

  

So, where we have perpetuated these absurd and illogical arguments for ages, how much is this judgment going to make a difference is a big question? Yes by law, now LGBTQ have a right to be in a relationship legally in their own country which has been deprived to them till now. Usually, they needed to get underground if they wanted to live with the person they love, which is no longer needed now. No one is going to beat them now for making love to each other. But by permitting sexual relationships among them under the provisions of law, have we make their lives absolutely smooth? Will not those eyes still frown upon them? Is the society going to change its perception which it has perpetuated for years, only because it is now legal in India? The society which has negated the homosexuals until now, is it going to accept them overnight only because of a judgment?

Some individuals, though they support homosexuality, feel that this was not the right time to scrap Section 377 as India wasn’t ready for it yet! But will India be ever ready? If this judgment wasn’t passed, India would never have been ready to accept homosexuality. Historians have traced the signs of homosexuality in the scriptures of India and it was only the Britishers who made homosexuality a crime in the colonial era. It has already taken centuries to amend a law that was made by the Britishers and there could not have been a more right time for this. It is already too late that we could not have waited for another century to pass so that the Indian society approves of it. Just because a part of society doesn’t approve of a thing, we cannot deny the deserving rights to a human being. 

The judgment given by the Supreme Court has only decriminalized the homosexuality by partially repealing the Section 377 of IPC. There are still many striking issues that could not have been addressed in this judgment like the legalization of same-sex marriage and same-sex adoption.

The war is still on. This is a long journey which is not going to end so soon. Still, we have to fight for them as this judgment is not the victory but just a step forward towards the victory. I am not denying to celebrate this judgment but the real celebration will be on the day when the society as a whole will accept the LGBTQ wholeheartedly and won’t consider them as alien species. The true victory will be on the day when they will be allowed to marry, when a same-sex couple will be allowed to adopt a child, when the society will stop frowning at them, when people will stop making indecent comments at them, when they will be accepted as naturals, when the society will stop considering homosexuality a disease or mental illness, and when the world will actually start following the statement given by CJI Dipak Misra “I am who I am, Take me as I am”!