About ten years ago, I was on the internet chatting with a kid in India who had just had his 18th birthday. He was still in high school and asked---and the question was entirely academic---if he could now go to jail for having sex with his classmates. Would it now be statutory rape?
I told him he should ask his father. He was a lawyer. He would know.
He said, We are Indian, not American. If I asked him that, he would kill me.
I was kidding, but I made him think American teens openly converse about sex with their parents. I guess SOME do, but you could probably find a few in India, too. They have over a billion people.
He googled the sex laws of India. He was surprised to learn that gay sex was a crime in the country. It was just never an issue for him.
Well, the Indian Supreme Court has voted unanimously to overturn the law against homosexuality. (Overturning state sodomy laws was a 5 to 4 decision in the US Supreme Court.)
“Criminalising carnal intercourse under section 377 Indian penal code is irrational, indefensible and manifestly arbitrary,” Chief Justice, Dipak Misra, wrote in his decision.
In a country of over a billion people, homosexuality should be encouraged.
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