Adrienne Villani | Beyond Profit | Intellecap
[Guest Post]: Kicking Open the Door
Editor’s Note: Guest blogger Adrienne Villani is an Associate at Intellecap, where she is involved in the conceptualization and creation of content for Beyond Profit, Intellecap’s publication on social enterprise and social entrepreneurship, both in print and online. Trained as a demographer, she received her M.Sc. in Population and Development from the London School of Economics and Political Science, where she concentrated on the demographic and socio-economic effects of son preference on the north Indian marriage market.
“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”
Neil Armstrong, Mission Commander of Apollo 11, the first manned mission to land on the Moon, uttered these words on July 20, 1969. Little did he know the role they would play in the pop culture psyche. Much like the Apollo mission altered the course of American engagement in the Cold War, today – July 2, 2009 – has the potential to change the social dynamics on the Indian subcontinent.
The human rights of homosexuals have been restored as Section 377, a law from the British Raj era which says homosexuality and “unnatural sex” are criminal acts, has been overturned by the Delhi High Court.* India is finally loosening the shackles of colonialism and looking at the big picture—which shows that more than half the countries in the world have decriminalized homosexuality (84 remain). India has finally shed the dubious distinction of punishing homosexual acts with a 10-year prison sentence. India no longer shares a place on the list of homophobic countries, which includes Pakistan, Uganda, Tanzania, and Sierra Leone — not exactly the kind of company that a ‘‘liberal democracy’’ like India wants to keep.
For gays in India, no more lurking in the shadows. No more harassment. No more prejudice. No more persecution. No more marginalization. No more exploitation. No more humiliation. No more fearing the cop’s baton. No more hiding in the closet, both figuratively and literally.
In India, this vast, exotic, multi-faith nation-state, the right to equality, the right to dignity, and the right to expression have never applied to gays. For that matter, these rights have not applied to other minorities either. In India, minorities are looked upon with suspicion and often with degradation. Indians need to get over this prejudice.
Personally, I am not overly critical of the Indian state. Given just 62 years of independence and a population of 1.2 billion and growing, India is doing remarkably well. Where was my country 62 years after independence? In 1838, America was forcibly relocating the Cherokee Indians in what became known as the trail of tears, enslaving Africans, and listening to the early musings of Abraham Lincoln.
The is pathbreaking because this giant leap for gays in India is also a small step for other minorities. It is the first step in a general movement/alteration in the Indian psyche from tolerance to acceptance. Tolerance means that we acknowledge there is something different (as opposed to wrong) in a minority, but we tolerate. Acceptance means we accept a minority as our equal in all respects, and there is no superiority complex on behalf of the majority.
This is happening around us. People of low castes are increasingly being admitted into the best universities, the social service, and politics. The majority Hindus accept and co-habitate with the minority Muslims because their own religion and its practices are not threatened. Women are leaving the home and entering the workforce. North-Easterners are accepted as Indians. And the list goes on….
In our world, the world of social enterprise, we are seeing this paradigm shift magnified. Social entrepreneurs are working tirelessly to change our world through market based solutions to poverty. They are working across the once insurmountable boundaries of caste, creed, and color to bring previously inaccessible and unaffordable products and services to the poor. Theirs is an attempt to bring dignity and humanity of every Indian, an attempt to redefine their nation, an attempt to do something for the greater good.
Read the Delhi High Court’s history-shattering decision here.
To follow the conversation about the repeal of Section 377 on Twitter, check out .
* According to the New York Times, “Thursday’s decision applies only in the territory of India’s capital city, but it is likely to force India’s government either to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court, or change the law nationwide, lawyers and advocates said.”
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