Homosexual relationships do not lead to STDs like AIDS: SC

 

The Victorian-era morality, prohibitions, unsafe sex and living in denial have led to the spread of sexually transmitted diseases like AIDS and it cannot be blamed on homosexual relationships, the Supreme Court on Tuesday said while observing the sexual intercourse itself should not be seen as a crime. The apex court termed the prohibitions on acts like prostitution and homosexual relationships as one of the causes for the spread of STDs and said, "If you licence prostitution, you control it. If you shove it under the carpet, owing to some Victorian-era morality, it will only lead to health concerns".A five-judge Constitution bench was not in agreement with the submissions of the lawyers favoring retention of section 377 in the IPC that the homosexual relationships have led to spread of AIDS."The cause of sexually transmitted diseases is not sexual intercourse. But unprotected sexual intercourse. A village woman may get the disease from a husband who is a migrant worker," the bench said. "This way you would want to make sexual intercourse itself a crime."

"We would not wait for the majoritarian government to enact, amend or not to enact any law to deal with violations of fundamental rights," the bench said and made clear that it may strike down a law if fundamental rights are infringed. “Sexual orientation is of abstract nature and such an abstract concept cannot be read into Article 15 and moreover, the term sexual orientation has not been defined either in the Constitution or in any other statute”.

The bench said its NALSA verdict recognized transgender as a gender besides male and female.The European Human Rights court has held that "the right to marry is not a conventional right".The court reserved its verdict after lawyers concluded their arguments in the case.

The National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) v. Union of India is a landmark decision by the Supreme Court of India, which declared transgender people to be a third gender, affirmed that the fundamental rights granted under the Constitution of India will be equally applicable to transgender people, and gave them the right to self-identification of their gender as male, female or third-gender. The court also held that because transgender people were treated as socially and economically backward classes, they will be granted reservations in admissions to educational institutions and jobs.