Indian lesbians demand decriminilisation of homosexuality

   NEW DELHI, Aug 10 (AFP) - A lesbian group demanded Tuesday the  
Indian government scrap an archaic law formulated under Queen 
Victoria which criminalised homosexuality in the British Empire. 

   "This law has now been scrapped in England whereas in India it  
is still in force," said a spokesperson for the Campaign for Lesbian 
Rights (CALER). 

   "No lesbian may have been picked up and flung into jail because  
of this 138-year-old law drafted by Lord Macauly in the 1830s. But 
it is used to blackmail Indian lesbians, force them to consent to 
marriage and be invisible." 

   In 1994, lesbian and gay groups filed a petition challenging the  
law in the Delhi High Court. The case has dragged on for five years 
and has evoked strong reactions, some even violent. 

   Opponents of decriminalisation have argued that scrapping the  
law would result in facets of western gay culture creeping into 
India and encourage the spread of homosexuality. 

   "We heard someone had called lesbianism contagious. How I  
wish... I would have had an entirely homosexual family by now, and 
need not worry about them finding out," one lesbian activist said. 

   "Maybe even my landlord could catch it, and then I wouldn't have  
to worry about being evicted," she said. 

   CALER also released an 84-page report on the status of lesbians  
in Indian society and crime against them. 

   "Anyone who looks, behaves or lives differently from the norms  
laid down by a traditional, patriarchal structure is made to feel 
shame," said the report. 

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Lesbians in India demand acceptance in conservative society

By NEELESH MISRA
Associated Press Writer

    NEW DELHI, India (AP) _ Lesbian activists in the Indian capital
released the first-ever report on the state of lesbians in India on
Tuesday and demanded the government repeal a law that makes sexual
relations between women illegal.

    Lesbianism is taboo in conservative India, and lesbians rarely
express their sexual preferences even when forced into marriages
and heterosexual relations.

    "Women have been harassed, attacked, blackmailed, coerced into
marriages and sexual relationships, have lost their jobs, housing
rights, family property ... and have been prevented from protesting
by being threatened by the police and their immediate social
milieu," the New Delhi-based Campaign for Lesbian Rights said in a
statement.

    No Indian woman has ever been prosecuted under the law, but
activists said the law was a threat that deterred women from openly
acknowledging their lesbian relationships.

    India's lesbian activists took to the streets late last year
after Hindu right-wingers targeted the film "Fire," which
portrays a lesbian relationship between a woman and her
sister-in-law. The right-wingers, saying the film went against
India's centuries-old Hindu tradition, attacked cinema theaters
showing the film and tore down publicity posters.

    The government provided protection to the theaters, and the
censors allowed the film to be screened.

    Activists said the protests had prompted letters from women all
over the country who were forced into marriages and made to
suppress their sexual orientations. One woman in eastern India
wrote to the activists, and said her husband had allegedly arranged
the killing of her lover, a woman who was working as their domestic
help.

    Despite the rising awareness among lesbians in India, the
movement still remains closeted. The activists who called the news
conference refused to be named or photographed and did not give out
phone numbers.