The Section 377 Verdict Is Out And It’s The Most Colourful Day Of The Year, Congratulations India!

In a historic verdict today, the Supreme Court scrapped Section 377, which criminalised gay sex and was in violation of fundamental rights.

This rule was earlier introduced more than 150 years ago under the British rile, crimilazing sexual activities that are “against the order of nature”, including same sex intercourse. Dating back to 1861, this law makes gay sex punishable by up to 10 years of jail time.

Back in 2009 the Delhi High Court had repealed the section, and was received with much celebration. This was however overturned in 2013 by the Supreme Court leading to mass protests. Since then prominent activists like Navteh Sing Johar, Sunil Mehra, Ayesha Kapur, Aman Nath and Ritu Dalmia have been petitioning for the court to reverse their decision. The case was reopened on July 10, 2018, and today on September 6th, the rule was finally buried, killed, cremated, call it what you want. 

The Supreme court said we “cannot wait for a majoritarian government” to discredit a law that goes against fundamental rights. They declared ‘We have to fester tolerance and peaceful coexistence, we have to respect them for who they are, and not ask them to be who they aren’t’