“Order of Nature” – a funny phrase considering nature is mostly chaotic and evolutionary. Anything but “orderly”. December 11, 2013 will be remembered as the day India retracted its stand on equality. It plunged the nation into a pit of despair and darkness.
December 11, 2013 is the day that the Supreme Court of India upheld “Section 377” of the Indian Penal Code. A statute that, when boiled down, categorizes homosexuality as a criminal offence.
In the million years of the world’s existence there has never been a level of unrest and intolerance than it has today. Thanks to people who believe in ancient hokey and cling to it like leeches. These people live by a set of rules written by either a) an entity called “God”, b) a messenger or follower of said God or, c) a regressive society living in the Dark Ages.
In India, laws are as dated as the country itself. Many laws were written during the British rule. In the 66 years of its independence not much has progressed in terms of tolerance. Instead it is taking steps backwards to a time when society was as absurd as the laws. There are multitudinous laws and endless loopholes. They need to be updated to fit today’s changing society. Instead, they sit in dusty books and vintage shelves in courthouses. Here, men can urinate in public because they are men and it is, after all, “nature’s” call and nothing criminal; politicians can watch porn during assembly because they are law-makers not criminals; rapists/murderers can walk free if they are juveniles because a 17 year old cannot be a criminal, he can only be wayward. But loving a person of the same gender is a strict no-no. Such a person is a criminal. If hypocrisy was money, we would all be in economic heaven.
July 2, 2009 was a silver lining for the LGBT community. The Delhi High Court decriminalized homosexuality between consenting adults. In plain words, this meant that two people of the same gender can love each other without any fear of having to face criminal charges. The keyword here being “love”. Being homosexual is not “against nature”. It is part of an individual’s identity. Love is nature’s order. And if love is an offence then we are doomed.
There is still a section of society that believes in the “against nature” bullshit. The only things against nature are idiots who think that love between two individuals has a constitutional definition. This is the time when people need to be educated about tolerance, equality and acceptance. The matter now stands in front of the Parliament. Let us hope it brings a change that would move the country towards a progressive life rather than a closeted existence.
NOINPART 