The fragrance of human freedom blossomed throughout!
Jan 19, 2017The media and social media became excited by the news about a proposal submitted to the cabinet to legalize homosexuality. We saw how the so-called nationalistic media that usually throws stones from glass houses, and even the social media and the media and individuals who say they appear for the rights of the Tamils, denuded themselves by their responses to this news. It is important that these so-called progressives are exposed through such attempts and news.
While modern civilizations recognize the rights of the homosexuals, as a country what we do is beat the drum of 2500 years of history and do our homophobian utmost against a human right. We may like it or we may not like it personally, there is a segment of society that gets attracted to the same sex. That happens due to the working of their hormones. There may be laws or there may not be laws, but they too, eat, drink, wear clothes, laugh and speak just like us. Only in the case of sexual attraction, they have a different liking from that of the majority. As a media institution and as individuals, we appear for their right to be treated as equals in society.
Actually, talking about an act to legalize homosexuality is irrelevant here. We appear for the annulment of clause 365 (a) of the penal code, which says an indecent act between two persons is an offence punishable by imprisonment of not more than two years. But, the term obscene act is not explained here. We appear for the abolition of this Victorian era law that is being used by Sri Lanka’s legal system, which is without a proper policy, in its own interpretation and to its own liking, to repress a minority.
Irrespective of by whoever and whenever human rights are curtailed, we have a policy of unconditionally opposing that. We do not fear the regular name callings against us such as Tigers, NGO, dollar zombies, separatists etc. We want to erase out of the law book the laws that curtail human freedom and repress a minority, irrespective of whether the European Union wants that or does not want that to happen. We will not hesitate to make our media usage on that behalf.
The following article was done by a staff writer. We are publishing it again as it is a matter that should be discussed now, more than ever before. Let us not learn not to look squint-eyed at different hormone activities among our own. Let us value human freedom over everything else!
Retroactive pardon and the minority sexual community
Have you heard about the Alan Turing law? An "Alan Turing law" is an informal term for a proposed law in the United Kingdom, which would serve as an amnesty law to retroactively pardon men who had been cautioned or convicted under historical legislation that outlawed homosexual acts. The proposal is named after Alan Turing, the World War II code-breaker and computing pioneer, who was convicted for gross indecency in 1952.
Alan Turing, after whom the proposed law has been informally named, was a mathematician, code-breaker and computing pioneer who died in 1954 in suspicious circumstances, following his conviction for gross indecency in 1952.
Turing himself was pardoned posthumously through the royal prerogative of mercy under David Cameron in 2013. How many do you think have been found guilty under this law? It is 65,000 men. Of them, only 15,000 are living today, and they are over 70 years of age.
Who makes laws on civility in this society? Should the minority be blamed if the majority opinion is different to that of the specific communities? Should the rights of the minority be violated just because of that reason? When the majority is homophobic, should the others pay for it? Aren’t the minority too, humans?
This is the time ‘Frangipani’ is being screened in Sri Lanka. This is a time a voice is being raised in the country more than ever before on behalf the rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. England has journeyed towards progressiveness through the Alan Turin law. What about us? We still live with a legal system that was dumped on us by the whites when they left us in the 19th century. Clause 365 (a) of the penal code makes it a criminal act thus:
The penal code was introduced by the British in 1883. Under it, it is an offence if a gross indecent act takes place between two men, two women or between a man and a woman. Let’s forget for a moment the same-sex indecent acts. How does an act of gross indecency between a man and a woman is defined? Under it, such an act is taboo even between a married couple. Most importantly, can the government or the police peep into the bedrooms to see if such gross indecent acts take place? Homosexual acts between men were illegal until the passing of the Sexual Offences Act 1967 in England and Wales, the Criminal Justice Act 1980 in Scotland, and the Homosexual Offences Order 1982 in Northern Ireland. The very countries that made this law freed themselves from it, but we still cling onto it by claiming so-called morals and culture. Even our neighbour India transformed this law. Naz Foundation v. Govt. of NCT of Delhi is this landmark Indian case decided by a two-judge bench of the Delhi High Court, which held that treating consensual homosexual sex between adults as a crime is a violation of fundamental rights protected by India's Constitution. The verdict resulted in the decriminalisation of homosexual acts involving consenting adults, in the jurisdiction of the Delhi High court.
Madmen see others as madmen too. Accordingly, certain persons suffering from the diseases of traditional morality, decency and religion see the minority sexual community as patients. In the late 1980s, US psychologists decided after a serious study that other than the males and females, nature has a third sexual kind, and that it is in no way a mental condition. Compared to that, where do we stand? Until then considered an offence under the penal code, homosexuality was made a crime in the 1990s.
How did our hero die? Unable to stand harassment by society, he took cyanide in 1954, at the age of 41 years. Can the sufferings undergone by these Alan Turings be healed by a posthumous pardon? Their souls might be looking at us sarcastically and ask the question, “sinners, do you understand it at least now?”
See Alan Turing’s story here
