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- Media Coverage
- 10 Aug 2018, Los Angeles Times
These activists helped bring India to the brink of a landmark ruling on gay rights
India’s Supreme Court is due to rule soon in a case challenging Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which criminalizes same-sex intercourse. Based on the justices’ comments in hearings last month, the colonial-era statute’s days appear numbered.
Homosexuality “is not an aberration but a variation,” one said. “Would you now want to make sexual intercourse itself a crime?” asked another.
Five years after the court surprised many by reinstating the law introduced by the British in 1860, Indian activists are optimistic that the ban on sexual intercourse described in the law as “against the order of nature” will be overturned once and for all.
A Supreme Court judgment last year enshrined Indians’ right to privacy. And India is showing greater tolerance for gays and lesbians even as the country grows more politically conservative under Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose four years in power have seen a rise in hate crimes against minorities, especially Muslims.
While no one has been prosecuted under Section 377, gay Indians say it causes them to live in fear and exposes them to blackmail and threats.
In a culture famed for the Kama Sutra, the ancient Hindu sexual handbook that refers openly to homosexuality, a reversal of the ban would cap a decades-long struggle to bring homosexuality out of the shadows in modern India. Here are some activists who have played key roles in the fight.
About The LaLiT Hotels
Headquartered in New Delhi, the company opened its first hotel here in 1988 under the dynamic leadership of Founder Chairman Mr. Lalit Suri, who spearheaded the Group’s unprecedented expansion plans.
Rapid expansion and consolidation of its leadership position continues under the enterprising stewardship of Dr. Jyotsna Suri, who took over as Chairperson & Managing Director in 2006.
All hotels within the group operated under the brand The Grand – Hotels, Palaces & Resorts. It was re-branded as ‘The LaLiT’ on November 19, 2008 as a tribute to the company’s Founder Chairman Mr. Lalit Suri.
The company offers twelve luxury Hotels, Places & Resorts and two mid market segment hotels under The LaLiT Traveller brand offering 2261 rooms.
