This is despite gay sex becoming legal in India last year
A top general in the Indian army said a ban on gay sex will stay in effect, despite the Supreme Court lifting a general ban on it last year.
‘[The Indian] Army will not allow LGBT activities in the force,’ Chief of Army Staff, General Bipin Rawat said. ‘We have some section in Army acts to deal with this.’
He then added: ‘In the Army, we cannot accept it,’ reports India Today.
Rawat said the army is ‘very conservative’ but they will be keeping an eye on how the lifting of the general ban on gay sex goes.
For over 40 years, Rawat has served in the Indian army. He rose through the ranks to become general on 31 December 2016.
India lifts gay sex ban
India decriminalized homosexual acts on 6 September last year.
India’s Supreme Court ruled to abolish the colonial-era, Section 377 of the Penal Code.
India has a population of 1.3 billion and and estimated LGBTI population of 78 million making this the biggest decriminalization verdict in history.
Judges ruling on the high profile LGBTI rights case said Section 377 was unconstitutional. They also said it violated the right to privacy.
‘Bodily autonomy is individualistic. Expression of intimacy is part of right to privacy,’ Chief Justices of India (CJI) Misra and Khanwilkar said in their judgment.
India’s gay prince Manvendra Singh Gohil said the decision was ‘a moment of celebration and freedom for LGBTI in India’.
‘We had our freedom taken away in 1861, but with today’s ruling our human rights will be restored,’ he told Gay Star News.
It meant ‘truth always prevails and truth always wins,’ he said.
Similarly, Bollywood star and television personality Karan Johar said ‘the country gets its oxygen back’.
by James Besanvalle
Source – Gay Star News
