India's Supreme Court has agreed to
review a lower court order legalizing being gay, the BBC reported,
but has refused to put on hold the landmark judgment, which means gay
sex has been decriminalized throughout India as the review moves
forward.
Earlier in the month – just days
after gay activists staged Gay Pride parades in several cities for
the first time – the Delhi High Court of India declared intercourse
between two consenting members of the same sex legal.
The verdict overturned a law that
banned gay sex in India, a holdover from British colonial rule, known
as Section 377 of the Indian penal code.
The Delhi ruling faces two challenges:
one by astrologer Suresh Kaushal and another by a yoga guru.
India's ancient scriptures and values
support the 148-year-old law and gay sex spreads HIV, the virus that
causes AIDS, argues Kaushal.
Human rights groups, including the
United Nations and Human Rights Watch, say criminalizing gay sex
slows the progress of HIV prevention services as gay men go underground, increasing the spread
of the pandemic.
Government officials, who have yet to
file a response, appear supportive but non-committal on the Delhi
ruling. The Supreme Court has asked the government to file a
response by September 14.
“We have taken note of sentiments
expressed by cross sections of people and that is why the government
is not hasty to form its opinion to be submitted to Supreme Court,”
union law and justice minister M. Veerappa Moily told reporters
Sunday, the Times of India reported.
While the gay community praised the
Delhi ruling, religious groups have denounced it.