Just when the nation thought the RSS had moved beyond its conservative position on same-sex relations, we were jolted back to reality with the RSS General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale ‘completing’ his views on gay sex hours after speaking about it in very ‘liberal’ terms at the India Today Conclave.
At the event, Hosabale had said that gay sex is not a crime.
Why should RSS have an opinion on homosexuality? It is not a crime as long as it does not affect the lives of others. Sexual preferences are personal issues.” The categoric statement by the BJP’s ideological mentor raises the hope that the government could push to rescind the colonial era law (Section 377 of IPC) that makes homosexuality a crime though opinion in most political parties is loaded against same-sex relations.Report in The Times of India
The statement came as a bit of a surprise but was lauded by those in support of LGBT right. Only if it ended at that...
Not so surprisingly, on Friday morning, the RSS General Secretary tweeted – almost as a clarification of his earlier statement – that homosexuality is not a crime but a mental disorder.
Earlier, Finance Minister Arun Jaitely had said that the Supreme Court had taken a “conservative view” in the matter.
When you have millions of people involved in this (gay sex), you can’t nudge them off… Jurisprudence world over is evolving, I think the judgment was not correct and, probably at some stage, they may have to reconsider.Arun Jaitley, Finance Minister
However, Jaitley’s view is not thought to be widely held within the BJP.
Also Read: RainbowMan: My Country Rejected Me Because I’m Gay
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)