BBC: “Gay sex decriminalised in India”
The position of the Roman Catholic Church is disagreeable, but compatible with civilized treatment of others:
Father Dominic Emanuel of India’s Catholic Bishop Council said the church did not “approve” of homosexual behaviour.
“Our stand has always been very clear. The church has no serious objection to decriminalising homosexuality between consenting adults, the church has never considered homosexuals as criminals,” said Father Emanuel.
“But the church does not approve of this behaviour. It doesn’t consider it natural, ethical, or moral,” he said.
I disagree with the priest’s views about sexuality, nature, ethics, and morality, but in a free society, we tolerate the beliefs of others, no matter how odd or eccentric or unfounded, so long as they do not use force. As members of a great society, the leaders of the Catholic Church could have done better: they have agreed not to object to liberty (rather than endorsing the freedom, while criticizing the behavior), when they should have been insisting on liberty, just as I would demand liberty for them to preach their views without any hindrance. Freedom is a fundamental right for everyone — those who disagree with us no less than those who agree with us.
The response of one (and I should note that that does not mean that it is the view of all) Indian Muslim was very different. Note the strangeness of referring to the repeal of a prohibition as itself a law that he would not “accept”:
The head cleric of Jama Masjid, India’s largest mosque, criticised the ruling.
“This is absolutely wrong. We will not accept any such law,” Ahmed Bukhari told the AFP news agency.
Does that mean that he will go and punish with force gay people on his own?
Here is the legal decision.
P.S. Sorry for the slightly garbled version first posted. I was rushing to write it in the Mexico City Airport and then had to go to board my flight.
Unfortunately one billion people have not been liberated from this law – the change only applies to the city of New Delhi, not the whole country. However, it will probably set a precedent for other jurisdictions in India. Time will tell.
Thank you for that! I had read some other posts on the topic that implied that it applied nationwide. It seems likely to be a sound precedent for the rest of the nation, however. And New Delhi is a huge city….so at least there is some place free of such odious and despicable interventions into the private lives of peaceful people.