SBP commends Supreme Court's initiative to re-examine same-sex relationship

SBP commends Supreme Court's initiative to re-examine same-sex relationship

Swarna Bharat Party, India’s only liberal party, commends the Supreme Court’s decision to re-examine the question of same-sex relationship and hopes the Constitutional Bench will quash Section 377 of the IPC which criminalises homosexuality.

SBP president Vishal Singh said in a press note that this provision violates the principle of equality and liberty guaranteed to every citizen by India’s constitution.

From the scientific perspective, homosexuality has long been proven to have a significant biological (i.e. genetic) component. Criminalising homosexuality is a throwback to the time when ignorant prejudice ruled the world.

In 2013, the Supreme Court upheld this obnoxious section of the IPC. The party believes that was an inappropriate decision. A government can have no role in people’s bedrooms in matters of consensual sex. Section 377 is a direct assault on citizens’ liberty and privacy. Such a perspective on human behaviour is inappropriate in a day and age when India must actively promote the scientific attitude so it can prosper on the foundations of scientific knowledge.

Mr. Singh further said that SBP stands firmly on the side of activists who have fought to decriminalize gay sex. SBP hopes the Supreme Court will soon hear the curative petition and determine to abolish this blight on human dignity and liberty.

Mr. Vishal Singh also outlined the party’s position on an important related issue. Gay couples that wish to live together in a marriage-like relationship, should legally be able to do so. It may be inappropriate, however, to term such a relationship as ‘marriage’, to distinguish it from traditional heterosexual marriage.

Mr. Singh also noted that it may be inappropriate to give such form of cohabitation the right to bring up adopted children. However, the party is committed to an evidence-based approach and believes that a detailed assessment of evidence, with the best interests of children in mind, should inform the country’s final position on this issue.