Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Contradictions, Contradictions
The world is full of contradictions, but its funny that people and governments can still get away with it. For example, the Indian High Court recently rejected a petition filed by a HIV and AIDS organization called the Naz Foundation that sought to challenge laws that deemed homosexual acts as "unnatural criminal behaviour". Ok, i don't know about you, but unnatural, that's a matter of opinion and personal beliefs, but to say it's criminal is a bit too much lah.
But I digress. Here's the funny part: The High Court ruled that "the validity of a law" cannot be challenged by anyone who is "not affected by it". That is, gay people should petition for gay rights, not organizations representing them.
The irony is, it also ruled that "Indian society, by and large, disapproves of homosexuality and justifies it being treated as a criminal offence even when adults indulge in private". Now, where are the straight people's petition? By the same logic, the government, ie. an organization representing a body of people, should not be allowed to sanction law the same way an organization representing gays should not be allowed to petition or challenge said law. The government lawyers should get off their arse and conduct polls, make straight people put their names down and sign a very long petition representative of "Indian society, by and large" in order to make such a ludicrious demand, isn't it?
My intention here is not pro-gay nor anti-gay. It's just pro-fairness.
