New Delhi: A leading Hindu group and a top Catholic Church leader in India differ on many issues, but seem to agree on a sensitive issue: decriminalization of homosexuality.
The Indian media was agog Thursday after the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS, national volunteers’ corps) demanded a change in a section of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) that treats homosexuality as a crime.
The 81-year-old umbrella organization of rightwing Hindu groups has traditionally opposed homosexuality.
However, on March 17, its joint general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale told reporters in New Delhi that sexual preferences are a personal matter and the organization has no view on it. “I don’t think homosexuality should be considered a criminal offence as long as it does not affect the lives of others in society,” he added.
Hosabale also said sexual preferences are private and personal.
This view resonates with the sentiments expressed by Cardinal Oswald Gracias, the archbishop of Bombay, who in February suggested repealing the law that criminalizes homosexual acts.
“I feel that homosexuality should not be criminalized. For me it’s a question of understanding that it’s an orientation,” the cardinal said. The cardinal heads the Catholic bishops in Asia as the president of the Federation of Asians Bishops’ Conferences. He said he has met some groups and associations of LGBTs (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender), “and I had an understanding for them. I don’t want them to feel ostracized.”
The section 377 of IPC, enacted by the British colonial regime in 1860, criminalizes ‘carnal intercourse against the order of nature.’ It was rooted in the Judeo-Christian religious morality that abhorred non-procreative sex.
Punishment for offenders ranges from ten years to life with or without fine. “Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine,” the section says.
Cardinal Gracias, one of the eight advisers to Pope Francis, said, one should be harsh and reject people from society. Although he does not accept the validity of same-gender marriages, the cardinal does not want throw out people as bad.
‘I believe maybe people have this orientation that God has given them and for this reason they should not be ostracized from society. The Church is concerned, and if you’re Christian or Catholic and if you’re part of the Church you have to have compassion, sympathy and understanding toward them.”
India’s Supreme Court is reviewing the issue. According to the apex court, it has to be resolved in parliament.
The Supreme Court said in February that it would reconsider whether homosexuality should be criminalized. In 2013, the court had upheld the 377 section.