RSSChristians and Muslims are opposing a government review of a 149-year-old law that treats homosexual behavior as a crime.
In a statement on June 28, federal Law Minister Verapppa Moily said the government was prepared to re-consider the 1860 British colonial law, which it views as outdated. The government has asked ministries dealing with law, health and home affairs to review it, he said.
“But we are not going to rush to any conclusion. We will take into account concerns of all sections, including religious groups such as the Christian Church,” the Press Trust of India quoted Moily as saying.
The colonial law criminalizing “carnal intercourse against the order of nature” has been used against a wide range of sexual behavior including homosexual behavior, with penalties ranging from 10 years’ jail to life imprisonment.
Moily’s announcement came the same day as small Gay Pride parades were held in a few Indian cities.
Gay rights groups in India have campaigned for years for a repeal of the law, saying homosexuality is not a perversion and the state has no business in regulating sexual affairs between consenting adults.
However, Christian and Muslim groups have come out in opposition to any review of the law.
The Catholic Secular Forum, a Mumbai-based lay organization, says it opposes the move because it is against India’s culture and social mores.
Forum general secretary Joseph Dias, in a press release, says homosexuality is unnatural even among animals. “So why do human beings want to stoop down even lower than animals?” he asked, and added, “it is yet to be proved that homosexuality is genetically induced.”
Dias says India has an estimated 4.5 million homosexual men and they form 86 percent of HIV/AIDS patients in the country. He warned that homosexual behavior would increase if it were legalized, and encourage “manipulative, dominating, coercive, under age and unsafe sex.”
The forum also urged the Church to educate its followers on the ills of homosexual relations. It said it wants the Church to issue an advisory on homosexuality to help parents and youths to understand sexual orientation and respond appropriately to it.
Father Babu Joseph, spokesperson of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, speaking to UCA News, said, “The Church is very clear that gay relations are against the order of nature and divine will.”
“In homosexual relations, persons may get personal gratification but they are not obeying natural law and social obligations,” the Divine Word priest said.
The Catholic Church has consistently opposed homosexual behavior because it considers the social obligation of giving birth to a new generation to be “very important,” he said.
However, an Indian theologian, who did not want to be named, said theologians could support gay marriage “with some reservations.” He said people should understand that homosexual people are naturally attracted to those of the same sex and are not inclined to be celibate.
“So under the principle of lesser evil, theologians can tolerate a permanent love relation between two consenting adult constitutional homosexuals,” said the priest.
Leading Islamic figures also condemned the proposed law review.
“Homosexuality is an offence under shari’a law and haram (prohibited) in Islam,” Maulana Abdul Khalik Madrasi, deputy vice chancellor of the Darul Uloom Deoband, told reporters on June 29.
Maulana Salim Kasmi, vice-president of the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board, in a statement, also referred to gay activities as crimes, and said Islam punishes homosexual acts.
India is one of the few secular democracies in the world that still criminalizes homosexual acts. Other states that do are mostly Islamic or authoritarian regimes. China lifted its ban in 1997.
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