With the recent Delhi High Court judgment on Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code decriminalising homosexuality, the issue has been at the centre of a heated debate between various religious groups and gay rights activists.

In an attempt to bring these diverse opinions onto a common platform, the Commission on Policy, Governance and Public Witness, National Council of Churches in India, organised an open debate on homosexuality in the Capital on Saturday.

Among those who spoke on the issue were Mujtaba Farooq, secretary of the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Christopher Rajkumar of the NCCI and Anuradha Mukherji of NAZ India, the petitioners who fought against the almost 150-year-old Article 377 in the Delhi High Court.

“The aim of this programme was to initiate a debate and discussion on the recent judgment of the court. We felt that reactions across the board were in haste and extreme. Therefore, we made an attempt to deliberate and take a holistic view on the issue by bringing various sides to the table,” Anjna Massih, secretary of the Commission on Policy, Governance and Public Witness, said.

Although the participants showed more of an accommodative attitude, the discussion brought to the fore friction between the ideologies of the panellists as far as homosexuality was concerned.

“The question before the church today is not about promoting or supporting any sort of sexuality but how to embrace sections of our society that are discriminated against on the basis of their sexual orientation,” Christopher Rajkumar said while addressing the gathering.

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