Indian archbishop opposes decriminalizing homosexuality

by Dennis Coday

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dcoday@ncronline.org

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According to a report in The Hindu, which bills itself as "India's National Newspaper," Archbishop Vincent M. Concessao of Delhi led a delegation to meet with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to ask him to do something about a July ruling by the Delhi High Court that de-criminalized homosexuality.

More precisely, the Delhi High Court legalized consensual gay sex by overturning a 148-year-old colonial law that had banned it.

According to this report, Concessao called the court ruling "illegal and immoral" and hoped that it would be overturned by the nation's Supreme Court.

The Indian edition of Christian Today, a U.K.-based multimedia company, that publishes newspapers in 17 other nations, reported today that the group Concessao led was an "interfaith delegation" (without giving further details of who was in the group) and that the group's message to Singh was that "homosexuality was against the laws of nature and must be unlicensed."

Christian Today reports:

The Church, says Concessao, does not stigmatize or marginalize gay people, but what it really feared was that the legalizing of homosexuality will increase cases of sexually transmitted diseases and create a social disorder.

Christian Today also reported that Singh told the delegation he could do nothing awhile the case is pending before the Supreme Court.

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