A landmark ruling that legalized gay sex between consenting partners in India was challenged Thursday in the country’s high court, lawyers said.

Activists protest against the ruling to decriminalize gay sex in New Delhi on Sunday.

The supreme court issued a notice to the nonprofit Naz Foundation that had won a lower-court verdict after a seven-year legal fight to decriminalize gay sex.

Notices also were issued to the federal government and the New Delhi high court, which ruled last week that consensual sex between partners of the same gender was legal.

An astrologer filed a petition challenging the ruling. The petitioner argued that no constitutional right is violated by the Indian penal code’s Section 377, which had outlawed gay sex, said his lawyer Praveen Agrawal.

The petition also cited Indian culture and health as grounds for seeking a stay on last week’s ruling, he said.

The supreme court posted the next hearing for July 20.

Last week’s ruling meant the law — Indian penal code section 377, which had previously criminalized consensual homosexual acts between adults — was partly struck down but remains in place as far as forced homosexual acts are concerned.

The verdict affects law enforcement all around India because it deals with a law enacted by the federal parliament.

See India: Legal gay sex ruling challenged

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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/india-legal-g…

Trans activists protest pharmacy

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Outside Ebenezer Church, gay rights activists protest Atlanta Journal Constitution, USA

Dozens of gay activists protested the Rev. Rick Warren’s speech Monday at the Martin Luther King Jr. commemorative services outside Ebenezer Baptist Church.

Gathering at the corner of Jackson Street and Auburn Avenue, they hoisted signs declaring: “We still have a dream: Equality.” And they chanted: “Gay, straight, black or white, we demand our civil rights.”

Warren, a best-selling author and the pastor of an evangelical mega church in California, helped rally support in California to outlaw same-sex marriage.

“Rick Warren is not a voice of unity or equality,” said Jeff Schade, director of GLBTATL, which stands for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Atlanta.

See Outside Ebenezer Church, gay rights activists protest
Atlanta Journal Constitution, USA