Reaction: World’s most significant gay law reform

Indian Supreme Court ruling decriminalising homosexuality.

Comment from Peter Tatchell, Director of the Peter Tatchell Foundation

«This historic legal ruling sets free from criminalisation almost one fifth of the world’s LGBTQ+ people. It is the biggest, most impactful gay law reform in human history. I hope it will inspire and empower similar legal challenges in many of the 70 countries that still outlaw same-sex relations, 35 of which are member states of the Commonwealth».

«Ending the ban on homosexuality is just a start. There are still huge challenges to end the stigma, discrimination and hate crime that LGBTQs suffer in India».

«Indian LGBTQs now revert to the legal status of non-criminalisation that existed prior to the British colonisers imposing the homophobic section 377 of the criminal code in the nineteenth century».