Breaking Barriers: The Courts & The Fight For Same-Sex Marriage
- IJLLR Journal
- 5 days ago
- 2 min read
Vidhi Jain, Student, School of Law, Bennett University, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh
ABSTRACT
“Race, gender, religion, sexuality, we are all people and that’s it. We’re all people. We’re all equal.”
~ Connor Franta
It is a general rule that law is not only what is made by the sovereign but also what is accepted by the society as a whole. Religion is one of those significant aspects of society which binds people together, and when that expresses its views on a particular topic, it becomes a norm. A norm becomes the perception and perception turns to behaviour, which is what law regulates.
Historically, religious scholars have condemned and termed homosexuality as something sinful, immoral and unnatural, mostly receiving negative perception from, Jewish, Christianity and Islamic religions. The indulgence in these acts was seen as an offence, for example in the United Kingdom, “The Statute of 1533” also known as the “Buggery Act”, enacted by King Henry VIII, made the offence of sexual acts between two males (sodomy) punishable by death. This statute continued to function for further 300 years before being repealed and “Offences against Person Act, 1828” was enacted.
The Britishers brought the sodomy rules with them when they came to the Indian sub-continent. They criminalized homosexual relationships and non- reproductive sex. Their ideologies of homosexuality being something unnatural and a disease got ingrained into the Indian society. When Thomas Babington Macaulay drafted the Indian Penal Code, 1860, section 377 was inserted in the legislation under the heading of “Unnatural Offences” which reads as the following – “Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with transportation for life*, or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.
Explanation – Penetration is sufficient to constitute the carnal intercourse necessary to the offence describes in the section.” This section penalized all non-reproductive sex between two males, two females (homosexual) or intercourse with animals, also called bestiality.
