Celebrate Good Times! Come ON!

Congratulations to the Indian Supreme court for their decision to decriminalize homosexual acts between consenting adults! Institutionalized homophobia in India is one of the last negative vestiges of Colonial Rule by the British who brought their Victorian Christian values to the largely Hindu (i.e. pagan) subjects in South Central Asia. Before their conquest, the polytheistic spirituality of the majority Hindu people gave little regard to pronouncing judgment against Homosexual acts.

The image on the right above is from the Temple of Visvanatha in Khajuraho, India. It depicts a temple priest giving a "hand job" to a visitor and was carved in the 9th century of the Common Era. At that time Britain was a convoluted disassociation of warring kingdoms where the majority of the population was held in virtual slavery while fending off random attacks from Viking marauders and Normans bent on annexing the rocky island to their European empire. And literally hundreds of examples of Homosexual liaisons can be found in the stone sculptures in Hindu temples from across the centuries.

Furthermore, traditional Hinduism holds fast to the concept of a "Third Gender." Neither male nor female, that exists within society and is no more or less a member of that society (very much like the Native American concept of the Berdache which existed in some of the plains nations). Even the beloved and wildly popular Kama Sutra takes in stride the existence of Homosexual acts. Including them in the pantheon of activities to be engaged in in the pursuit of the fulfillment of carnal desires.

So India's Supreme court has not only struck a blow against the powers that oppose human rights, in taking this decision, it has also reaffirmed something very basic and very fundamental to the culture of the Asian sub-continent and its people.