Young people in India are taking to Facebook to protest the Supreme Court’s decision to re-ban gay sex.
Thousands of gay people and straight allies in India have posted photos of themselves kissing someone of their same gender to their Facebook profiles in an effort to celebrate homosexuality and show a message of solidarity with the LGBT community.
“At this very difficult time, we must support our friends and family and fellow citizens for their right to express their sexuality,” organizer Tanmay Sahay said. “All you have to do is change your profile picture to one in which you are kissing someone from your gender in protest of the Supreme Court of India’s ruling that criminalizes homosexuality.”
In 2004, the Delhi High Court lifted the country’s ban on intercourse between consenting adults of the same sex. The law was originally written in 1860 and violation carried a penalty of up to 10 years in prison. But earlier this week, lawmakers voted to put the colonial era law back on the books, effectively setting back human rights some 150 years.
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The law has been described by LGBT activists as “the worst event to happen in global gay rights in the past decade.”
The “gay for a day” campaign has quickly gone viral, with over 4,000 people signing up and hundreds uploading photographs of them kissing their friends.
Scroll down to see more photos posted by activists.
Photo credit: Facebook.
AuntieChrist
Could this be a leftover of British imperialism..? Hindu texts have no prohibitions towards same sex unions they even had a third sex called Hijra very similar to the Native American Two-Spirit..Those damned Abrahamic religions have to ruin everything…
Ruhlmann
Everything lousy is a leftover of British imperialism. I know cause I’m French.
AuntieChrist
@Ruhlmann: Hmmm France…Go for the culture, stay for the pastry. 🙂
trusgold
now who is the third world country?
MK Ultra
very encouraging
jwtraveler
Germans did this, now Indians. I hope this becomes a worldwide trend. Maybe we’ll see Obama kiss Biden, or Pope Francis kiss Archbishop Dolan. How about Ann Coulter and Michelle Bachmann? Yikes!
Kangol
What a positive development, and one step in persuading India’s parliament to strike this heinous colonial-era law from the books.
zibala
Wow!!!!!
India 2013 (estimated) population: 1,270,000,000
Gay protesters against court ruling: 4,000
Gone Viral ????? Don’t talk rubbish. That is just under 0.0003% of the whole population!!!!!
Those gay chaps will have to do better than that and get more other gay people to join them in their protest – else the vast vast majority will win.
And, please, don’t blame us british and our old imperialism. India has been independent since the mid-1940s. They are old enough to do what they like.
Sebizzar
I’m actually surprised that 4,000 people are open and supportive about it, good for them! I would’ve thought any place in the middle east was extremely homophobic but then again I need to get out more.
tjr101
@Sebizzar:”I would’ve thought any place in the middle east was extremely homophobic but then again I need to get out more.”
India is not in the middle east, and yes please, you do need to get out more. Grab a map while you’re at it!
Sebizzar
@tjr101: Lol, trust me I’ve had a globe since I was a kid and looked at it several times. I just assumed the middle east was… well, all the countries in the middle of the eastern hemisphere. And India is right in the center!
jckfmsincty
And, this is the world’s largest democracy. Those of us in the United States should never underestimate the will and the evil of the “Religious Right” in our country.
jwtraveler
@Sebizzar: Nope. Not the Middle East. Better get a history book or an encyclopedia to go with that globe. India is considered part of “south Asia”, even if it doesn’t look that far south on the map.
sfbeast
Very nice show of support. And some of those in the pics didn’t look like they minded kissing a same sex friend all that much.
tjr101
@Sebizzar:”I just assumed the middle east was… well, all the countries in the middle of the eastern hemisphere. And India is right in the center.”
Yea, so I guess China must be part of the middle east as well since it’s kind of at the center of the eastern hemisphere right??? SMH…
EdgarCarpenter
In most of India it is customary for young men to experiment sexually and emotionally with each other – this is seen as ok, and everyone knows about it. It is approved because it keeps them away from young women, who are much more restricted there.
As a result of the imported British homophobia, though, young men having sex with their male friends is magically “not homosexual sex”, since homosexual sex is “bad” but sex with their male friends is normal.
This rather large cultural mis-match is not discussed publicly in India, and some books for travelers warn foreigners not to mention it (!) but it’s an underlying fact that makes sex between men or between women an even more charged topic there.
Sebizzar
@tjr101: Uh, no. If I could highlight the area I’m talking about on a map I’d show you but we can’t upload pics here so whatever. I get it, it’s NOT considered the Middle East. But it should be 😛
hephaestion
This is shocking. Just last year a book came out proving that Gandhi was gay. And now this??