Indianexpress.com : comments : It’s about all of us

It’s about all of us

There come moments in the life of a nation when it has to confront its deepest prejudices and fears in the mirror of its constitutional morality. The Delhi high court’s judgment in Naz Foundation vs Union of India, decriminalising private, adult, consensual homosexual acts, does just that. The ....Read more

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It was supposed to be about all of us but was it? By: Dr.G.Srinivasan | Tuesday , 7 Jul '09 5:23:46 AM Reply | Forward Somebody had taught me that honesty is the best policy.To dictate terms to the society the judiciary should be honest and get the respect of the citizens.This is a sine qua non in any society to become civilised.A judiciary backlogged with cases which it will never clear in a century cannot gain this respect nor is it in any way honest enough to deal in matters concerning the people society and morality. To keep people waiting and crawling for justice for decades does not constitute constitutional morality.The constitution was about people -- the decision to have a representative democracy which did put people into untold misery was about all of us -- but the decision to have a westminster type of democracy was taken by the few for the few.On no important matter concerning all of us does the government go in for a civilized form a referendum . There are a lot or things -- we have a democracy )??) where the PM is unelected the President is unelected.This was also about all of us

This is not the only issue By: Dr.G.Srinivasan | Tuesday , 7 Jul '09 4:59:14 AM Reply | Forward But for now, we should be thankful that the court has shown great legal and moral clarity. There will be opposition from self-appointed custodians of tradition. But theleast we can do is say: accept the judgment and move on. This point is taken with a lot of salt not a pinch!!!! What is about all of us is not this but a much more important thing like the right for justice. The courts have been clogged with crores of cases waiting for ages and crying for justice. To neglect them and giving priority to this issue alone will be an injustice done by the judiciary on the people.Again the issue props up why is it that nothing is done for the pending cases and few cases are given more attention whereas the rest are left to rot!!!! I am more concerned about justice and the judiciary itself !! It is for the judiciary to be fair and show the same fervor in finishing up the case and rid the judiciary of corruption -- only the tip of the iceberg was seen last week! There are important issues

Re: Law is not only about libertyBy: RC | Monday , 6 Jul '09 5:50:38 AM Reply | Forward Here are a couple of amazing and life-affirming maxims to live by, "To thine own self be true" and "You can be the best you as God made you or a second-best someone else".I'm gay. God made me that way. I can only be the best me as God made me. If I try to be you, I'll fail miserably and be very unhappy. Society is made up of individuals. If individuals are happy, society is happy. If individuals are unhappy, they don't contribute to society to their best capacity and society suffers because of it.Yes, sacrifices are made for the good of the masses, but why do those sacrifices have to be made by gays only? Btw, it can only be called sacrifice if one makes it willingly, not if its forced.Gays forced to sacrifice their lives by marrying the opposite sex for society's sake only brings about unhappiness. Nothing's gained. In fact, with homosexuality in the world, there's natural population control. Happy and healthy homosexuals would be better contributing members of society.

Re: Law is not only about libertyBy: RC | Monday , 6 Jul '09 5:27:56 AM Reply | Forward Speaking of morality and behavior...what you see right now are people who behave as if they were heterosexuals/ straight. This is harmful, not only to them, but to others around them, becuase reaction to repression and oppression comes out in many different ways. It is more harmful to insist adults marry someone of the opposite sex when one knows it will ruin two or more lives (kids, family). THAT is immoral. It is immoral to not talk about safe-sex practices. It is immoral to refuse or make it difficult for someone to get healthcare that could save their life and that of their partner (and in case of married people, their spouse as well). You talk about the media glamorizing gays...I have a compaint that they don't cover gay issues enough...there's very little clear and comprehensive coverage of real issues...the problems, obstacles and sacrifices gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender folks have to make just to exist. Try walking in their shoes, you'll know the truth.

Re:Law is not only about libertyBy: RC | Monday , 6 Jul '09 2:45:39 AM Reply | Forward Raj, this verdict isn't in Sanskrit. Justices shouldn't have to dumb down their language...otherwise we'd have a verdict 1000 pages long. The High Court did not make a new law, only interpreted an old one. They realized an existing law was discriminatory and therefore unconstitutional. That's all. Arguing about legalizing marijuana is a baseless scare tactic. And labeling something "abnormal" or "dysfunctional" doesn't make it so. You say gays harm society? Prove it.Laws are definitely about liberty AND protecting the rights and defunct laws need to be erased. Besides, we're not just talking about a miniscule minority being affected, but tens of millions. The stigma is so great that more than 95% of them are in the closet. With this verdict you will see more people "out", but it doesn't mean they've increased in number, just that they now feel safe being out. Moreover, it’s straight parents who birth homosexuals, not laws, so any increase should be attributed to them.

Law is not only about libertyBy: Raj Bhadra Singh | Saturday , 4 Jul '09 19:24:54 PM Reply | Forward Can the judge prove beyond doubt that legalizing such acts will not lead more into such acts? Is there any data which shows illegality has not been able to limit spread of such socially undesirable practices. Let us not delude ourselves, large majority of people do not approve such practices and do not want that our society becomes a breeding ground of social experimentation. So what is next, legalize marijuana? I have not heard of any study which shows private consumption of drugs cause harm to society. Object of law in such cases should be preventive, discouraging more people getting into such things because like drugs this is also advertised by the very glamorous elite- the aberrant, the people who get media attention because they are not normal. Law making should be left to parliament in a democracy. If you need too many big and high sounding words to defend a law and to convince society it is likely law is dysfunctional.

Excellently reasonedBy: C. V. G. Iyer | Saturday , 4 Jul '09 11:27:53 AM Reply | Forward Clear, cogent reasoning of the kind readers have come to expect from Mr Mehta. The distinction between popular and constitutional morality is a crucial one. This judgment is a victory for the deep constitutional morality which is the basis for our way of life as modern Indians. For those who are worried (without reason) that this judgment will legitimise incest and bestiality, consider this: without the protections of the constitution for free speech, individual rights and unpopular minorities, would Baba Ramdev or the Imam Bukhari be able to express their opposition to this judgment with the full protection of the law? To oppose the court's reasoning is to open the floodgates to all sorts of oppression. Today, it will be gays and lesbians, tomorrow it will be Muslims, the next day Hindus -- as Mehta writes, it is indeed 'about all of us'.