India: LGBT community want Obama’s support
The Indian LGBT community is calling on Barack Obama to offer his support to them ahead of his visit to the country this weekend.
India re-criminalised homosexuality in 2013, after the Supreme Court ruled that the previous legislation to legalise it was invalid. The current ruling party say they support legalisation, but the Supreme Court has no plans to review the laws.
Inspired by the Obama administration’s fight for LGBT rights across the United States, the community in India has started the #ObamaForQueerIndia campaign.
Community member Gautham Gayan told the Times of India: “We decided to begin an online campaign and contacted our counterparts in other cities to coordinate. We are creating awareness and raising our voices so that the message reaches Obama and those in the Indian legislature.”
A petition to Mr Obama has been launched. It says: “We are not a minuscule minority. And we ask you to support us by speaking about our rights when you meet our leaders. Our voices can be ignored by our leaders, yours cannot. Help the LGBT community in India get the freedom and equal rights that they so truly deserve.”
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon recently called the ban on gay sex “intolerable” and in November, the US State Department called on India to end the ban.
