On Thursday, India’s Supreme Court unanimously decided to strike down one of the world’s oldest bans on consensual gay sex. The act put an end to a legal battle that went on for years, and buried this glaring remnant of India’s colonial past.
This groundbreaking victory for gay rights came after weeks of deliberation and decades of struggle. Dipak Misra, India’s chief justice, said that the law known as Section 377 was “irrational, indefensible, and manifestly arbitrary.” In the Court’s judgements, the justices said that homosexuality was natural, and that the Indian Constitution was not simply “a collection of mere dead letters”, but should evolve and change over time.
“We have to bid adieu to prejudices and empower all citizens,” he told a courtroom packed with people on either side of the issue. The court ruled that gay people are now entitled to every constitutional protection under the law, and discrimination based on sexuality will be illegal.
