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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 NEW DELHI 001356 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KWMN KDEM IN
 
SUBJECT: RIGHTS FOR SEXUAL MINORITIES IN INDIA MAY GROW 
 
REF:  2008 New Delhi 2698 
 
¶1. (U) Summary. India's lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transvestite 
(LGBT) community is becoming increasingly active, while Indian 
society appears to be slowly accepting equal rights for the 
community.  The global LGBT Month saw marches in major Indian 
cities, including New Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, and Kolkata. 
Meanwhile, the Government of India is considering whether to amend 
and/or repeal Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which 
criminalizes sexual acts "against the order of nature," including 
sex between individuals of the same gender.  According to the media, 
the Home Minister plans to meet soon with his counterparts at the 
Law and Health Ministries to discuss the law.  Amending or 
eliminating Section 377, a legacy of the British Raj, would bring 
India in sync with other liberal democracies.  End Summary. 
 
LGBT Community Coming of Age but... 
----- 
 
¶2. (U) The Indian Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) 
community is slowly coming of age, especially in India's cities. 
Activists raised awareness during the worldwide Gay Pride Month in 
June, culminating in parades on June 28.  Delhi held its second 
annual march which saw a larger number of people and much greater 
media coverage of the event than in the previous year.  The Delhi 
march included parents, friends, colleagues, and siblings of LGBT 
people.  In Kolkata, approximately 150 people participated in the 
gay pride parade organized by several NGOs.  The parade was part of 
a series of events there to promote LGBT rights, including a panel 
discussion, launch of a newsletter, and artistic events.  In 
Orissa's small state capital of Bhubaneswar, about 150 people from 
ten districts attended the first "Rainbow Pride Walk."  Chennai held 
its first parade--with an estimated 300 marchers and several 
thousand spectators--on its famous Marina Beach.  The police managed 
the crowd respectfully and kept things orderly.  Bangalore's parade 
reportedly had as many as 600 marchers.  (Note: The Consul General 
in Chennai hosted a reception for more than 70 people marking Pride 
Month. Chennai's Public Affairs Section launched a series of 
Oscar-winning films at a local film society by screening "Milk," 
about slain gay rights leader Harvey Milk, and hosted a display on 
U.S. LGBT history.  End Note.) News reports on Pride Month events 
were generally positive, accurate, and gave high prominence to the 
activism. 
 
¶3. (U) According to some activists, there has been a growing 
acceptance of sexual minorities in India in the last two decades.  A 
recent survey of eight Indian cities showed that people in the 18-30 
year-old age group are more at ease with homosexuality than people 
in the 31-45 year-old age group.  A gay rights activist from the 
LGBT group Gay Bombay confirms reports of marriage ceremonies 
between same sex couples every week, throughout India.  According to 
activist Ashok Row Kavi, some Hindu priests will "forget about 
everything if you show them a few bucks." 
 
Many Still in the Closet 
----- 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Poloff spoke with Maya Shanker and Betu Singh, two female 
activists of Sangini Trust, an NGO that focuses on helping women 
deal with issues regarding their sexuality and sexual rights.  The 
two activists described the difficulties LGBT Indians, especially 
women, continue to face.  According to one activist, the situation 
has improved from past years as more young people--especially urban 
youth--feel comfortable in coming out about their sexual 
preferences.  Sangini Trust has avoided police harassment by 
maintaining a low-profile.  Police harassment of gay men and the 
transgender community continues, according to Singh.  The NGO 
recently provided shelter and helped find jobs for two young women 
from a village near Nagpur, who fled the village when they were 
thrown out by their families after getting married to each other. 
Both women said government officials who are gay are still reticent 
to come out and support the gay rights movement.  They also noted 
their struggle to persuade the women's movement to recognize the 
rights of lesbians, recalling that lesbian groups were not allowed 
to participate in Women's Month events. 
 
Section 377:  A British Legacy 
----- 
 
 
NEW DELHI 00001356  002 OF 003 
 
 
¶5. (U) India is one of the few democratic nations that still 
criminalizes homosexual activity.  Section 377 of the Indian Penal 
Code (IPC) punishes "carnal intercourse against the order of 
nature."  This includes private consensual sexual intercourse 
between adults of the same gender.  Lord Thomas Macauley introduced 
the law in 1860 and its punishment includes either imprisonment of 
ten years, or life and a fine.  Technically, Section 377 does not 
criminalize gays as a class, but targets only sexual acts.  However, 
the gay community bears the brunt of the law since the proscribed 
sexual acts are commonly but mistakenly associated with the gay 
community. 
 
¶6. (U) Many Indian activists believe the British brought their own 
laws and prejudices when they took control of the Indian 
subcontinent.  According to them, Section 377 originated in 
seventeenth century Britain and was introduced into secular criminal 
codes from ecclesiastical statutes.  Before the British arrival, 
India had no personal laws on sexual orientation.  Activist Ashok 
Row Kavi states, "The personal in India had remained personal till 
the British invented both the closet and the law to keep you in it." 
 (Note:  The British repealed the law in the United Kingdom in 1967, 
although similar laws continued in their former colonies. End 
Note.) 
 
Ancient India: To Each His Own 
 
¶7. (U) According to some scholars, Indian jurisprudence had no 
concept of something being "against the order of nature." Section 
377's proscription was a Western concept which remained after the 
British quit the subcontinent in 1947.  According to the Naz 
Foundation, an NGO that works on HIV/AIDS issues, India historically 
was relatively accommodating of homosexuals.  While Section 377's 
penalty goes up to a life sentence, there is nothing comparable to 
it in the Manusmriti, the most popular book of Hindu law of ancient 
and medieval India.  Another indicator of India's liberal Hindu 
heritage, the famous Kama Sutra, contains a chapter that details sex 
between the individuals of the same gender and says "it is to be 
engaged in and enjoyed for its own sake as one of the arts." 
 
New Government Plans a Rethink? 
----- 
 
¶8. (U) The GOI is considering repealing and/or amending Section 377. 
 According to a top government official, "this section is an 
absurdity in today's world.  The government will certainly move to 
repeal it."  The previous government was unable to evolve a 
consensus following stiff resistance from the former Home Minister 
and some sections of the coalition government which opposed the 
lifting the ban on the grounds of relgion.  The new Home Ministry, 
under the continuing leadership of P. Chidambaram, appears to have 
changed its position. (Note: Chidambaram took over the Home Ministry 
after the November 2008 terrorist attacks on Mumbai.  He was 
reappointed to this position when the new government was formed in 
May.  End Note.)  In early June, new Law Minister Veerappa Moily 
raised hopes among the gay rights community when he said he was in 
favor of reviewing some sections of the IPC, including Section 377. 
The third critical ministry, Health, has historically favored 
repealing Section 377, arguing that it would help to more easily 
spread awareness of HIV/AIDS among the gay community who often fear 
the police and go underground.  According to the media, Home 
Minister Chidambaram will chair a meeting soon with his Law and 
Health Ministry counterparts, and also solicit input from state 
governments. 
 
¶9. (U) The government's new consensus is expected to impact a 
petition filed by the Naz Foundation that is pending before the 
Delhi High Court in which the court is reviewing a challenge to 
arrests under Section 377 (Reftel).  The Law Ministry at the time 
supported the Home Ministry and made it clear to the court that the 
GOI did not favor any change in the existing law.  Although a court 
verdict is expected soon, the new government may choose to notify 
the High Court that it has changed its position.  However, the 
government may not have an easy time altering its stance.  Talk of 
repealing or amending the law has already garnered opposition from 
religious conservatives, causing the government to backpedal. On 
June 29, Law Minister Moily stated that "the government cannot take 
a decision in a hurry," and Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said 
"there should be more debate---public debate, Parliament debate." A 
trusted contact, Ravi Nair, of the South Asia Human Rights 
 
NEW DELHI 00001356  003 OF 003 
 
 
Documentation Centre believes the LGBT community should not use 
high-profile public events to effect change in the law, since Indian 
society is still very conservative and public activism is only 
likely to delay any change. 
 
Comment 
----- 
 
¶10. (SBU) The new government's consideration of amending or 
repealing Section 377 may be another signal of the government's 
confidence and intention to reach for seemingly low-hanging fruit to 
obtain some early victories. Decriminalizing sex between members of 
the same gender in India would not only bring it in line with the 
majority of the world's nations, but would also reaffirm the world's 
largest democracy as a liberal one.  But in the face of upcoming 
assembly elections in Maharashtra, Jharkhand, and Haryana, the 
government may find fighting for equal rights for the LGBT community 
a bridge too far for fear of alienating conservative Hindus, 
Muslims, and Christians.