Diaspora joins India in global day of rage

Diaspora joins India in global day of rage

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TENS of thousands of people across the world came together on the weekend to protest against a controversial court decision in India to uphold a colonial-era law that criminalisesd acts “against the order of nature”, one of which is supposedly homosexuality.

Rallies were held in major Indian cities like New Delhi and Mumbai, as well as London, New York, Los Angeles, Toronto and even Sydney last Sunday – after India’s Supreme Court last week overturned a 2009 judgement declaring Section 377 of the country’s criminal code was unconstitutional in regards to sex between consenting adults.

The Indian Supreme Court on December 11 ruled it was wrong for the judiciary to have previously weighed into the matter when it was instead for parliament to decide.

Binu Raghavan, from South Asian LGBTI advocacy group Trikone Australasia, which organised the Sydney protest for the Global Day of Rage, told the Star Observer the decision meant that many homosexual and trans* people who had begun living openly now feared possible repercussions.

“There has been a lot more activities and pride marches [since 2009],” he said.

“The recent decision… it has put a lot of people under danger and fear of coming out. For people who have come out, they are actually now under a little bit of threat on how society is going to view them and how society will take them for who they are.”

Protest organisers in India vowed to challenge the decision in the courts while there was also pressure on the Indian government to negate the court’s judgement through an ordinance, which could bypass the Supreme Court decision without parliamentary discussion.

Protesters worldwide also used the hashtag #NoGoingBack to share photos with other protesters on Twitter and Instagram.

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