Global Day Of Rage : 15th December, 2013. WorldWide.

December 14th, 2013

Written By Queer Coolie

Ahmedabad * Ann Arbor * Berlin * Boston * Cambridge * Chennai * Delhi * Gorakhpur *Hamburg * Johannesburg * Kolkata * London * Lucknow * Mangalore * Mumbai * Mysore * New York * Pune * Richmond * Sangli * Sydney * Toronto * Vancouver * Washington DC * And many more joining in…

We Are Outraged….

– That the Supreme Court of India on December 11, 2013 set aside the July 2009 Delhi High Court judgment which decriminalised consensual sex between adults in private, effectively re-criminalising all lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer Indians and reduced them to the status of ‘unapprehended felons’

– That the Supreme Court has betrayed its own progressive history of extending rights for all by taking away rights from Indian citizens with this judgment.

– That the Supreme Court has failed to live up to its role as the protector of rights for all citizens without discrimination, as guaranteed by one of the world’s most progressive texts — the Indian Constitution

– That the Supreme Court has thus betrayed the fundamental constitutional promise that the dignity of all citizens would be recognised and that equal treatment is a non negotiable element of the world’s largest democracy, thereby shredding the very principles it has sworn itself to uphold.

– That the Supreme Court has criminalised all consensual sexual acts that do not involve penile-vaginal penetration. This applies to all people, irrespective of their gender identity or sexual orientation, including heterosexual people and not just LGBT Indians.

– That the Supreme Court has empowered blackmailers, bullies and homophobes who will now find easy victims in LGBT people whose rights have been denied.

– That the Supreme Court has encouraged corporations and companies to discriminate against their LGBT staff and discouraged those few companies which moved after the Delhi High Court judgment to ensure non discrimination against LGBT staff within their organisations.

– That the Supreme Court can use the phrase ‘miniscule minorities’ to dismiss the rights of LGBT people, thus ignoring the spirit of inclusiveness which is at the heart of the Indian Constitution. The size of a minority is irrelevant, what matters is that every member of it, every Indian citizen has an equal right to protection granted by our Fundamental Rights and it is the SC’s duty to enforce this, not throw it away.

This Global Day of Rage is being organised by queer Indians, the queer India diaspora, queer people of all countries, our supporters, relatives and friends. All are coming out on the streets of cities across the world on Sunday December 15, to together raise our voices against this travesty of justice.