I can’t tell you how cool it was to read the paper my first morning here and the biggest story, covering the front page, and multiple pages inside, all covered the victory of the LGBT movement in India. The High Court just struck down a hundred year old law that criminalized homosexuality. The enthusiasm and excitement from the community could be felt through their quotes and pictures and just all of the stories in general. To finally be recognized by your own country as someone who is not a criminal simply for their sexuality, it’s huge. What depressed me was reading all of the statistics of all of the other countries that still condemn homosexuality as illegal, and the HUGE list of other countries that treat gays as second class citizens through a variety of different types of legislation, from not allowing marriage to banning adoption to all sorts of other ridiculous laws that are completely unjust, unfair, and wrong.
Seeing the pride parade last weekend in San Francisco and then being in a country that literally just struck down the criminalization of being gay, is a stark contrast and reminder of how far we have to go … not just on gay rights, but so many human rights and global justice issues. Watch out world, my activist spark has been reignited.
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The other countries that treat gays as second class citizens...including the U.S.? I'd say we certainly have a long way to go here at home too! That's exciting to hear that India has taken a BIG step forward, though!
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