Gay sex no offence: Govt

At last, the Centre has broken its silence on the legitimacy of homosexual and lesbian relationships and said it supports decriminalisation of gay sex.

“We accept the reasoning of the Delhi High Court on consensual sex between two adults in private. This is the stand of the Centre. The cabinet accepted the group of ministers’ recommendation of not appealing against the high court verdict,” attorney general Goolam E Vahanvati told the court on Wednesday.

The statement, revealing the Centre’s perspective regarding the sexual orientation of at least six lakh homosexual and lesbian couples, assumes significance as the government has always offered divergent views put forth by the home and health ministries.

On a query by the court whether the home ministry’s affidavit filed in the high court opposing gay sex was wrong, the attorney general replied that the Union government ‘accepts’ the reasoning of the HC verdict. He also disowned the contention, made by the home ministry’s lawyer, which had sought to disapprove the High Court ruling.

Vahanvati said the lawyer’s contention ‘isn’t the stand of the home ministry’.

At this point, judges asked Vahanvati whether he meant to say that the home ministry’s affidavit before HC was ‘incorrect’. To which, Vahanvati replied, “Yes. When we saw the HC verdict, we learnt from it.”

The top court also said ‘gay rights’’ is an international ‘movement’ now.