The British Empire’s homophobic legacy could finally be overturned in India

The British Empire’s homophobic legacy could finally be overturned in India

Ibtisam Ahmed
1st September 2017, 1:28 PM

Participants in a Pride march in Kolkata protest the Colonial-era Section 377 (Photo by DESHAKALYAN CHOWDHURY/AFP/Getty Images)

Ibtisam Ahmed of the University of Nottingham confronts the British Empire’s continuing Colonial legacy of anti-LGBT laws.

In a landmark ruling, India’s Supreme Court has confirmed an individual’s right to privacy – including sexual orientation – under the country’s constitution.

The ruling on August 24 offers new hope for the LGBTQ+ community in India, still living under the homophobic legacy of the British Empire which criminalised same-sex relationships. A formal judgement on the law, known as Section 377, is still pending and the hope is that the court will repeal this toxic colonial hangover.

This legacy dates back 157 years to a dark part of imperial history. In 1860, the British Raj – the empire in India – had been in place for three years.

The British East India Company had given way to crown control after the 1857 Sepoy Rebellion and justified its conquest with a promise of bringing “civilisation” to its colonies. Part of this civilising rhetoric was tied in with reforming the ways in which desire and love were practised and accepted.

At the time, a multitude of social norms existed within the borders of the Indian subcontinent largely influenced by religion, geography and occasionally by ethnicity.

Suggesting there was a monolithic and singular attitude to anything was misleading. In contrast, there was a rich diversity in the ways in which sexuality was understood. Even in socially conservative areas, same-sex intimacy was simply a part of life.

Awadh, in modern-day Lucknow, had a ruler who would practice living as the opposite gender at times, including changing sexual partners.

More : http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2017/09/01/the...urned-in-india/