Glimmer of hope for overturning India’s anti-gay law

Colin Stewart is a 45-year journalism veteran living in Southern…

Scene at a gay parade in Delhi. (Jasjeet Plaha photo courtesy of Hindustan Times / Livemint.com)

BuzzFeed reports:

India’s Supreme Court said [today] it would hear arguments in open court on whether to reconsider a December decision upholding the country’s colonial-era sodomy law, known as Section 377.

This is LGBTI rights’ advocates last chance to toss out the decision, which was a harsh blow after a 12-year litigation process. …

But the lawyers in this case got a major boost last week when a different two-judge Supreme Court panel issued a sweeping verdict recognizing broad rights for transgender people. Though the judges in the transgender rights case were careful to explicitly say they were not offering an opinion on the 377 case, their ruling reads almost like a point-by-point rebuttal to the ruling.