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Thursday, Jul 2, 2009 10:03 PM UTC

Quote of the day

There's celebrating in the streets as India overturns a ban on gay sex

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Topics: Broadsheet, Love and Sex,

Until yesterday, gays in India could receive a 10-year prison sentence as a result of their sexual activities. All that changed today as the New Delhi High Court decriminalized homosexuality. 2009 might seem rather late in the day for such a decision, but let’s not forget that the U.S. only repealed its own laws banning sodomy (in the Lawrence and Garner v. Texas case) in 2003; up to then sodomy remained a criminal act, astonishingly, in 13 states.

For a snapshot of pure joy, it’s hard to beat this picture of men and women flooding New Delhi’s streets to celebrate. As Aditya Bandyopadhyay, a lawyer and gay rights activist told the BBC:

“We are elated. It’s a path-breaking judgement. It’s a historic judgement, it’s India’s Stonewall.”

 

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