In the middle of the huge banners and cacophony of chants by protestors, was a sexual rights coalition called Voices Against 377, which stood out with its bright rainbow banners, catchy chants and daring public challenges to Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Over twenty gay, lesbian, queer and heterosexual Indians and expatriates shouted, “Hey-hey, ho-ho, homophobia has got to go!” “377 down, down!” and “Lesbian rights are human rights!” while proudly holding up placards reading “377 Quit India” and “Heterosexuality is not Normal it is only Common”.
But what is Voices Against 377 and how are their ideas and goals connected to the struggle for women’s emancipation?
Voices is a Delhi-based coalition that emerged in 2002 as a response to the stand taken by the government in the Delhi High Court on Section 377. “It is a forum run by civil society groups that are challenging the law, claiming that it is in violation of human rights. Different groups within the coalition are also looking at the issue from the vantage points of human rights, women’s rights, children’s rights, sexual rights and HIV/AIDS,” says Sanjay, a gay sexual rights activist, law graduate and active member of Voices. The coalition launched its Million Voices Campaign on Saturday, seeking to raise one million voices in protest against the legislation, by encouraging people to sign pieces of cloth with messages either for sexual rights, or against the law. “The Million Voices Campaign was inspired by the global AIDS Memorial Quilt Project. We are trying to get people to write their messages for sexual rights on cloth that we will stitch together,” says Shanti, a middle-aged bisexual woman, who works for a feminist NGO focusing on issues of education and is one of the group’s founding members. Shanti argues there is an integral connection between sexual rights and women’s rights: “This law takes away the right to bodily integrity and the right to choose and express one’s sexuality, which effects women.”
Sanjay claims the law is oppressive and stifling as it does not reflect the fluidity and complexity of gender identities and sexualities that have been celebrated throughout Indian history and mythology and that continue to be a reality in contemporary Indian life. “The legislation is vague in its wording and represents a Victorian language and morality that reflect the values of a point in time from over 150 years ago,” says Sanjay.
But he is hopeful about the future. “There is a contest between the rights of people who are affected by this law and the stand that the Indian government has taken for so long in the Delhi High Court. Different wings of the government have expressed different positions. The Law Commission of India has long argued for decriminalisation,” says Sanjay.