Harshit Joshi talks about the LGBT Rights in the country.
INTRODUCTION
LGBT means lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people are discriminated and also face violence and inequality because of their sexual orientations and gender preference. There are limited LGBT rights granted to these people in some countries which are also considered as human rights but it was noticed that these rights in India were against the Section 377 of Indian Penal Code which stated : “Unnatural offences-whoever has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, women or animal shall be punished or shall be imprisoned which may extend upto 10 years and shall also be liable for fine.” After this observation one more observation was made that this section was going against article 14, 15 and 21 of The Indian Constitution ,1950. And so this section was not applied onto them because according to section 21 everyone has a liberty to live their personal life.
People against legalising the homosexuality argued that it is against the morals values of the society. But this opinion was opposed by saying that anything forbidden in religion need not to be prohibited in law. They added that morality cannot restrict the fundamental rights of the society. A legal wrong can be a moral wrong but a moral wrong cannot always be a legal wrong. For a moral wrong to be a legal wrong it has to be against the society and its policies.
Some countries allow same sex marriage whereas there are some countries where punishments are given upto death. The LGBT rights differ from country to country. Same sex marriages were not legally recognised in India nor were they offered with the rights that other countries offered the LGBT people. In 2011 the same sex marriage was granted a legal recognition by the courts. The transgender welfare policy was firstly introduced in states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala in India. According to this policy transgender people could access free sex reassignment surgery, free housing program and admissions in colleges. The transgender people were legally granted voting rights as a third sex in 1994. Then in the emerging years there came more changes as in 2014 the Supreme Court of India declared transgender to be socially and economically backward class and hence they were entitled reservations in education and jobs.
As the time passed more and more equality came into existence and they were accepted by the society. The Rights of Transgender Persons Bill, 2014 was passed by the Rajya Sabha in 2015 which guaranteed them rights and entitlements, reservations in education and jobs, pensions, unemployment allowances and provisions to prohibit discrimination. The government also intends to provide transgender with all the rights that are entitled for SC and ST.
The lesbian, gay and bisexual people are yet not given the rights to freedom of choice, equality before law and privacy enshrined in the Indian Constitution. The LGBT people opposed the Section 377 of IPC and said that it has just been used as a weapon to discriminate, harass, assault, attack or rape sexual minorities denying them their rights as individuals and citizens. They also added that Section 377 of IPC does not specifically or explicitly mention homosexuality and so it is used as just a weapon against sexual minorities in India and a way to threaten them.
The issue of LGBT rights which was considered a niche issue has now gone mainstream. Many people who have their personal interests and others have started supporting for gay rights as it has now become part of India’s new conception. The politicians have also been showing their interest and their support for the same.
The Supreme Court has recently been acknowledging that the matter of homosexuality need more attention. The decision of Supreme Court to debate by a procedure of hear by circulation has been looked by LGBT people as an opportunity to rectify the mistake of re-criminalising homosexuality I the country. Homosexuality has been considered as a taboo largely in the Indian society which is now mainstream topic of debate in the courts. After the decision of High Court in 2009 of decriminalizing homosexuality the Supreme Court recriminalized homosexuality in the year 2013 but now in the year of 2016 again a change has been seen as BJP members and Supreme Court have been showing their support for the LGBT rights. In November 2015, PM Narendra Modi regretted the conditions and situations faced by the transgender people in Indian society and he also added that government needs to change their outlook.
