MUMBAI, November 11: Social activists sought change in the definition of `family' in the statute books and end to discrimination against the gays and lesbians.

At a two-day workshop on `Strategies to advance lesbian, gay and bisexual rights', over 30 participants from all over the country felt that due to discrimination these groups have been criminalised. The meet was organised by the Mumbai-based Forum Against Oppression of Women with Human Rights Law Network, Stree Sangam (Delhi) and Counsel Club (Calcutta).

Sandhya Gokhale of the Forum said in the present scope of the word, family denotes a man's wife, his children, his dependent parents and the widow and children of his diseased son. In case of a woman, it denotes the husband and children, her parents as well as the parents of her husband. Due to these limitations, lesbians, gays and bisexuals are denied custody, adoption, maintenance and acquisition of property rights as in inheritance and succession from partners. They are also denied professional benefits like gratuity, provident fund, pension, insurance, compensation for accidents/death and health."

Under the special marriages act, any two persons (sex not mentioned) can get married but it is the societal pressure that prevents a couple of the same sex from doing so. Leela and Urmila, two policewomen from Bhopal who wanted to live together, were terminated from service on the grounds of `conduct unbecoming of public servants', she further said.

Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which criminalises sodomy (and by extension homosexuality) was enacted by the British in 1861. It has been repealed in most other former colonies. The Aids Bhedbhav Virodhi Andolan has filed a writ petition in the Delhi high court seeking repeal of the section. In the history of this statute from 1860 to 1992, there have been only 30 cases in the high courts or supreme court - 18 were consensual, eight were unspecified, four consensual of which three were before 1940 and 15 out of 30 were assaults on minors.

Meena Fernandez, of Stree Sangam said, "Section 377 does not distinguish between consensual and coercive sex. It is currently being used most actively by groups working to register cases of child sexual abuse."

Mediapersons were not allowed to attend the workshop held from November 7 at an undisclosed destination in Mumbai.y

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.