Elite engineers are leading a challenge to conservative India’s homosexuality ban dating back to colonial times
When Akhilesh Godi was depressed and contemplatedsuicide while questioning his sexuality, he could not bring himself to see a therapist. Godi, raised by liberal parents in the southern Indian IT hub of Hyderabad and an engineering graduate from the elite Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), is by his own admission, privileged. But he says that seeking help in socially conservative India – where a ban on homosexuality wasreinstated in 2013 – was not an option until he had to be taken to hospital suffering from severe depression after his parents noticed he wasn’t eating properly and had become much thinner. „The tag of a ‘criminal’ makes it worse,“ said Godi. „You can’t even talk about this to a psychiatrist. You don’t know how they will react.“ Godi is one of the 20 openly gay students and alumni of various IITs across India whose position as products of some of the country’s most elite schools has made them one of the most high-profilegroups challenging a colonial-era law that criminalises homosexuality.
„We got a lot of attention because of the IIT tag,“ says management professional Balachandran Ramiah, another member of the group, whose petition against the 157-year-old ban on gay sex was heard by India’s Supreme Court this month. The IITs enjoy an elite status similar to the U. S. Ivy League universities, and attract some of India’s best and brightest students, who are typically scooped up by tech giants like Google, Microsoft and Apple. Godi’s group feels its presence in the courtroom lends a more mainstream voice to gay rights in India, which have largely been championed by activists and non-profit organizations. The IIT-associated petitioners represent a pan-IIT group of around 350, largely comprising gay men, called „Pravritti“ – which in Sanskrit roughly translates to „different thoughts“.
„The group was made to enable people to have a safe space to share issues,“ Ramiah said. Pravritti has enlisted lawyers in cluding prominent Supreme Court advocate Menaka Guruswamy, and has raised funds internally to cover legal fees, the petitioners said. Supreme Court judges, in their 2013 judgment, had said that the earlier decriminalisation of homosexuality by a lower court had overlooked that only a „minuscule“ section of the population were homosexual. „The words ‘minuscule minority’ hurt us a lot,“ said Godi, speaking by phone from Bengaluru. „The number of individuals that identify as LGBTwithin India is probablythe size of a country.“ On Tuesday, July 17 the Supreme Court, after hearing challenges against the homosexuality law, said it would reserve itsjudgment.¨
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SLOVÍČKA
ban zákaz
contemplate zvažovat
suicide sebevražda
bring zde přimět
raise vychovat
hub centrum
admission připuštění, přiznání
reinstate znovu zavést
suffer from trpět čím
severe vážný, těžký
tag nálepka (společenská)
high-profile ostře sledovaný
Supreme Court nejvyšší soud
bright bystrý, chytrý
scoop up zde vybrat
comprise sestávat z
roughly zhruba, přibližně
enlist získat, nabrat
fund finanční zdroje
fee poplatek
judge soudce
minuscule nepatrný
hurt dotknout se, ranit
LGBT osoby s menšinovým sexuálním zaměřením
reserve judgement odročit rozhodnutí
NAUČTE SE GRAMATIKU PODLE TEXTU
V dnešním článku se vyskytlo hned několik příslovcí. Jedno z nich ve větě „… he wasn‘t eating properly and had become much thinner.“ („…pořádně nejedl a hodně zhubl.“) Většinu příslovcí lze snadno utvořit z přídavných jmen pomocí přípony -ly: sudden – suddenly, easy – easily, legal – legally. Některá přídavná jména však končí na -ly. Z nich utvoříme příslovce opisem in a -ly way: fr
iendly – in a friendly way, silly – in a silly way. Některá příslovce mají stejný tvar jako přídavné jméno: late – late, hard – hard, fast – fast.
DOPLŇTE SPRÁVNÝ TVAR PŘÍSLOVCE:
She spoke really _ (quiet). It has been a busy week, I worked _ (hard). Why don’t you drive a bit more _ (careful)? Smoking is _ (strict) forbidden here. To my surprise, she behaved _ (silly).
Řešení: quietly / hard / carefully / strictly / in a silly way
