India’s Supreme Court agrees to review anti-gay laws

LGBTI people in India are celebrating after the country’s highest court agreed to review a law which makes gay sex illegal.

The Indian Supreme Court agreed to hear a curative petition that allows it to review and reconsider previous judgements it has made.

The news comes after LGBTI activists and NGO Naz Foundation filed multiple curative petitions hoping the court would overturn its 2013 decision that saw the reversal of a 2009 Delhi High Court ruling that removed Section 377 of the penal law, which criminalises sex with a person of the same gender.

Activist Pramada Menon on why the SC must reconsider its stand on #Sec377: https://t.co/kHJdgDasmj #RaiseYourVoice pic.twitter.com/qOqqByFKBu

— Youth Ki Awaaz (@YouthKiAwaaz) February 1, 2016

Since 2013 when the Supreme Court overruled the High Court’s decision to get rid of Section 377, hundreds of LGBTI people have reportedly been arrested in India.

LGBTI activists celebrated today’s decision, which is the last chance legally to have homosexuality decriminalised again, and were heard to be singing outside the court.

Vivek Divan from Lawyers Collective — the legal team that helped Naz Foundation file the curative petition — told Catch News that while yesterday’s ruling was a small victory there was still a long way to go.

However, a positive outcome could be a game changer for India and the world.

“It would be amazing. It would completely change the landscape of how we represent sexuality in media, popular culture, in literature,” he said.

“The conversation would hopefully be much easier, in educational institutions and workplaces.”

#Sec377 I sincerely hope today’s SC verdict is a landmark one celebrating individual freedom to live life on one’s own terms.

— Sanjay Jha (@JhaSanjay) February 2, 2016