India Decriminalises Gay Sex
THE TIMES OF INDIA: NEW DELHI: India took a giant, albeit belated, step towards globalisation on Thursday when the Delhi high court delivered a historic judgement to amend a 149-year-old colonial-era law — Section 377 of the IPC — and decriminalise private consensual sex between adults of the same sex. It is the biggest victory yet for gays rights and a major milestone in the country's social evolution. India becomes the 127th country to take the guilt out of homosexuality. >>> Manoj Mitta & Smriti Singh, TNN | Saturday, July 03, 2010

Indian Court Decriminalises Homosexuality in Delhi
THE GUARDIAN: Sex between people of same gender has been illegal in India since British colonial era

An Indian court today decriminalised homosexuality – but only in the country's capital, Delhi.

The Delhi high court ruled that treating consensual gay sex as a crime was a violation of fundamental rights protected by India's constitution.

The ruling is the first of its kind in the deeply conservative country.

"We've finally entered the 21st century," said Anjali Gopalan, the executive director of the Naz Foundation (India) Trust, a sexual health organisation that filed a petition calling for decriminalisation eight years ago.

The verdict can be challenged in India's supreme court.

Sex between people of the same gender has been illegal in India since a British colonial era law classified it as "against the order of nature".

According to the law, gay sex is punishable by 10 years in prison. While actual criminal prosecutions are few, the legislation has frequently been used to harass people.

It can only be amended by the Indian parliament, but the court's verdict should protect Delhi's gay community from criminal charges and police harassment.

While the ruling is not binding on courts in India's other states, Tripti Tandon, a lawyer for the Naz Foundation, said she hoped it would have a "persuasive" effect. >>> Associated Press | Thursday, July 02, 2009

Listen to BBC audio: Anjali Gopalan, head of the Naz Foundation which filed the petition that prompted the ruling, she said she was ecstatic >>>

The Decriminalisation of Homosexuality in the UK: Forty Years of Enlightenment
THE OBSERVER: For most people the Sixties was a time of sexual awakening and experimentation. But it wasn't until 1967 that gay and bisexual men could share that freedom. On the 40th anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality, we revisit the appallingly repressive atmosphere of the Fifties and Sixties that ruined lives, destroyed reputations and finally sparked a campaign for change

Forty years ago in Britain, loving the wrong person could make you a criminal. Smiling in the park could lead to arrest and being in the wrong address book could cost you a prison sentence. Homosexuality was illegal and hundreds of thousands of men feared being picked up by zealous police wanting easy convictions, often for doing nothing more than looking a bit gay. Coming out of the dark ages (more)

Mark Alexander