Tag Archives: India

INDIA: Supreme Court Hears Challenge To Decriminalization Of Homosexuality

In 2009 the Delhi High Court struck down laws that criminalized gay sex, a move that was celebrated by LGBT activists around the world. Anti-gay and religious groups immediately appealed that decision. This week the Indian Supreme Court began hearings. Maulana Syed Jalaluddin Umri, president of the hardline Indian Islamic group Jamaat-e-Islami Hind said in 2009: “The time has come …

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INDIA: Gay Pride In New Delhi

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INDIA: 15 Mourners Killed By Fire At Trans Day Of Remembrance Ceremony

Fifteen members of India’s trans-identified hijra community were killed in a tent fire yesterday as they gathered to observer the Transgender Day of Remembrance. Members of Sangama and the Karnataka Sexual Minorities Forum on Monday condemned the Delhi Government for not putting fire safety systems in place which, they said, led to the charring to death of 15 hijras in …

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India’s $35 Tablet

A new $35 tablet (subsidized by India’s government) is in the hands of some tech sites and the reviews are surprisingly positive. What makes the Aakash tablet different is that its creators didn’t strive for perfection. Instead, the emphasis was on getting the product into the market quickly so it could be adopted, tinkered with, and improved over time. As …

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INDIA: 133 Arrested At Gay Party

Indian police raided a gay house party in Mumbai this weekend, arresting 133 attendees for “indecent behavior.” The police said they conducted the raid after they received a phone call around 1am about loud music being played at the Spanish Villa bungalow. A police team then raided the bungalow, which is often used for film shootings, and took the partygoers, …

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Activists Discuss Indian Health Minister’s Claim That Homosexuality Is A Disease

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India Minister: Gayness Is A Disease

Charming. India’s health minister has called homosexuality a disease, saying it is “unnatural” and “fast-spreading” in the country. Ghulam Nabi Azad told a conference dealing with HIV/AIDS on Monday that homosexuality was only recently imported from “the developed world.” The comments enraged many gay activists in India, who say that homosexuals in the country are routinely harassed. Gay sex in …

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INDIA: Supreme Court Defers On 2009 Ruling Decriminalizing Homosexuality

In 2009 the New Delhi High Court issued a landmark ruling decriminalizing homosexuality. That judgment prompted religious and political groups to petition the Indian Supreme Court to overturn the ruling. Today the Supreme Court deferred their decision until “after summer vacations.” Senior BJP leader B P Singhal, who had approached the High Court opposing legalisation of gay sex, has challenged …

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Quote Of The Day – Farooq Abdullah

“The male sex is growing and women are getting eliminated. The days are not far when there will be no girls to marry and we’ll all become gays. We never told people the truth, sometimes truth is bitter, we may not win elections but time has come when we must tell people, what is right. And the truth is the …

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INDIA: Television Station Outs “Deviant” Gay Men In Dating Site “Sting”

The Australian site SameSame reports that an Indian television has conducted a “sting” to out men using a gay dating site. The report from news channel TV9 Telugu shows people searching through gay youths profiles on online dating/social networking website planetromeo.com. The men found on the website were labeled ‘deviants’ and photos of them, along with personal information such as …

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INDIA: Pepsi’s “Gay” Commercial

In this Pepsi commercial from India, a young woman’s male friend pretends to be the lover of her fiance in order to help her break up her arranged marriage. An Indian filmmaker discusses what the commercial may mean about changing attitudes towards gays: This advert is extremely interesting comment on today’s India, as most ads and images always are. On …

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The World’s Most Expensive House

Mukesh Ambani, the fourth-wealthiest person in the world, has built himself the first-ever billion-dollar home in Mumbai. The lavish building– named Antilia, after the mythical island– has 27 stories, is 173 meters high and has 37,000 square meters of floor space — more than the Palace of Versailles. It contains a health club with a gym and dance studio, at …

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Indian Pole Gymnastics

Wait for the hawt furry little cub.

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CNN Recaps LGBT Rights Worldwide

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UPDATE: THE BAN HAS BEEN LIFTED
Gays Banned From NYC India Day Parade

UPDATE: The ban on SALGA has been lifted. SALGA, a non-profit organization dedicated to serving New York’s queer desi (South Asian) community, today announces that the Federation of Indian Associations (FIA) has granted SALGA permission to march in New York City’s annual India Day Parade (August 15). Just over two hours after announcing that SALGA would protest FIA’s non-response and …

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India Celebrates First Anniversary Of Decriminalization Of Homosexuality

Celebrations are taking place across India today in recognition of the first anniversary of a High Court ruling decriminalizing homosexuality. Members of Mumbai’s gay community danced, sang, laughed and hugged each other in the city’s sprawling Azad Maidan park as speakers recalled the long years of struggle to get Indian courts to change the country’s law. On July 2 last …

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Today In Mildly Interesting Trivia

This here website thingy gained a (relative) ton of readers from India in the last few months. One year ago, India wasn’t even in my international top ten. Desis in the house, raise your hands!

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Bollywood’s First Gay Kiss

Bollywood may see its first gay love scene, if the film gets past censors. An upcoming Bollywood film will feature what is thought to be the industry’s first gay love scene. I Am Omar, one of four short stories which make up the film I Am, focuses on male sex workers and homophobic police officers. In one scene, actors Rahul …

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India: “O” Is For “Other”

Voters in India will now have the option of identifying themselves as male, female, or “other” on ballot forms. Indian election authorities Thursday granted what they called an independent identity to intersex and transsexuals in the country’s voter lists. Before, members of these groups — loosely called eunuchs in Indian English — were referred to as male or female in …

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Indian Gov’t To Support Decriminalization Of Homosexuality

Two months ago, the Indian High Court issued a landmark ruling that rolled back British colonial-era laws against homosexuality. Today the Indian government said they will let the ruling stand. The government will not oppose the Delhi High Court judgment which legalised homosexual acts between consenting adults, official documents show. The note, likely to be put up before the Union …

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