Criminalising gay sex harms families as well, parents tell SC
A group of 19 parents who were allowed by the apex court to make their stand before it on the vexed homosexuality issue felt that criminalising sex among the consenting adults of same sex leaves their children open to social ostracism, besides making them vulnerable to police abuse, extortion and blackmail.
Those who approached the Supreme Court for getting an opportunity to be heard as parents of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) are a motley group drawn from a cross section of society in the country.
Two of them are retired teachers, one is an advocate, some are home-makers and social activists in the group. Noted among them is filmmaker, writer and activist Chitra Palekar. They said that the Delhi High Court judgment passed in July 2009 had provided the much-needed respite from constant fears of police harassment, extortion, blackmail and arrests to lakhs of LGBT persons in India.
Their petition said challenging the judgment and criminalising the consensual homosexual activity hindered their role as parents as a source of support and could lead to further alienation and separation of LGBT from their families.
Among the petitioners, a large chunk (of 13) do not want themselves to be identified in the media in an indication of a phenomenon that disclosing names would lead to unnecessary ridicule and stigma to them as well as to their children.
Activist and journalist Vikram Doctor said not all the parents are comfortable with their names and details being made public.
“It is true that by submitting the petitions in the court their details have, to some extent, become public, but there is a difference between it appearing in court and in the media, and several parents are keen to avoid the latter,” he said.
They submitted that they wanted to have support space not easily accessible as bringing up such children has been a lonely and isolating experience. Section 377 of the IPC, they felt, curtailed the free and frank discussion of their sexuality.
“The parents, siblings and other members of the family of a LGBT person harbour similar fears of disclosure, public ridicule and social exclusion, which stems from an erroneous and misguided understanding of homosexuality as an unnatural curable disease alien to Indian culture,” the petition said.
The private consensual intimate relationships between people of the same sex do not upset any public morality or harm the interests of others but Section 377 instead invaded the sanctity of the family and allowed unlawful attacks on the honour and reputation of parents and LBGT persons, they contended.
The parents said that the penal provision had failed to recognise homosexuality as a natural phenomenon and attributed it to bad parentage or genetic defects. “LGBT persons form an integral part of the Indian family and there is no contradiction between being an LGBT person and being a loving and caring member of the Indian family,” they said, pleading to view the question from the perspective of science and rationality.
