House LGBT Caucus Commends India Supreme Court for Landmark Decision Decriminalizing Homosexuality

1727 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515

Date: September 6, 2018      Contact:  Roddy Flynn, (202) 226-7572

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

House LGBT Caucus Commends India Supreme Court for Landmark Decision Decriminalizing Homosexuality

Washington, D.C. – The Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus today released the following statement in response to the India Supreme Court’s landmark ruling decriminalizing homosexuality. On Thursday, the country’s highest court ruled that Section 377 of the Indian penal code, a British colonial-era law banning consensual same-sex relationships, was discriminatory on the basis of sexual orientation and therefore unconstitutional.

“Today’s historic ruling by the Supreme Court ends more than 150 years of discrimination against LGBT people in India,” said LGBT Equality Caucus Co-Chair Rep. David Cicilline (RI-1). “We commend the LGBT activists who worked relentlessly for decades to repeal this archaic colonial-era law. We hope this landmark decision – which decriminalizes homosexuality for nearly 18 percent of the world’s population – will stand as a model to other nations and will inspire and energize world-wide efforts to protect the dignity and fundamental rights of LGBT people.”

Please contact Roddy Flynn at 202-257-8416 or roddy.flynn@mail.house.gov with press inquiries.

The mission of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus is to promote lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) equality. The bi-partisan, 119-member Caucus is strongly committed to achieving the full enjoyment of human rights for LGBT people in the U.S. and around the world.  The Caucus is led by the six openly LGBT members of Congress who serve as CoChairs and who authorize the release of statements and Caucus positions.

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