Comments for Gay Bombay http://www.gaybombay.org Creating Safe Spaces Fri, 26 Feb 2010 18:18:18 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 Comment on A Tribute to Justice A. P. Shah from GayBombay by Sridhar Rangayan http://www.gaybombay.org/?p=1334#comment-875 Sridhar Rangayan Fri, 26 Feb 2010 18:18:18 +0000 http://www.gaybombay.org/?p=1334#comment-875 You not only delivered a verdict, but wrote a new chapter in Indian LGBT history. Salute to you on that. I hope your verdict is just a beginning of far reaching changes in the years to come that would finally give us back our dignity which has been denied for centuries. Sridhar You not only delivered a verdict, but wrote a new chapter in Indian LGBT history.
Salute to you on that.
I hope your verdict is just a beginning of far reaching changes in the years to come that would finally give us back our dignity which has been denied for centuries.
Sridhar

]]> Comment on A Tribute to Justice A. P. Shah from GayBombay by Delhi FrontRunners and Walkers http://www.gaybombay.org/?p=1334#comment-874 Delhi FrontRunners and Walkers Sat, 20 Feb 2010 19:06:53 +0000 http://www.gaybombay.org/?p=1334#comment-874 Dear Justice Shah We literally ran the roads of Delhi celebrating the reading down of Section 377, Indian Penal Code. Yes, we did. On November 1, 2009, we ran the Great Delhi Run and the Half Marathon to celebrate dignity, diversity, and equality of all humans. We ran with renewed vigour, and we ran with our heads held high. The euphoria of July 2, 2009, the day you announced your historic judgment, had multiplied manifold with every single passing day, with every single breath - a new life, a new sense of liberty, dignity and equality. We ran shoulder to shoulder with everyone, our faces beaming with pride. Sir, we determine to keep running with your judgment, holding it close to our hearts and spreading its message of human rights, law and justice for all times to come. Warm regards and best wishes Delhi FR ABOUT US Delhi FrontRunners and Walkers (Delhi FR) is for transgender & same-sex desiring persons and their supporting friends & families. It aims to promote outdoor events and activities such as jogging, walking, cycling, and trekking. Delhi FR is a mixed group: some gay, some straight, some women, some men, some young, some not so, some out, some not.. There is no fee or sponsorship involved. You can run or walk, depending on what you like. It is great for health, plus a nice way to meet people. More about us on www.delhifrontrunners.org Dear Justice Shah

We literally ran the roads of Delhi celebrating the reading down of Section 377, Indian Penal Code. Yes, we did. On November 1, 2009, we ran the Great Delhi Run and the Half Marathon to celebrate dignity, diversity, and equality of all humans. We ran with renewed vigour, and we ran with our heads held high.

The euphoria of July 2, 2009, the day you announced your historic judgment, had multiplied manifold with every single passing day, with every single breath – a new life, a new sense of liberty, dignity and equality. We ran shoulder to shoulder with everyone, our faces beaming with pride.

Sir, we determine to keep running with your judgment, holding it close to our hearts and spreading its message of human rights, law and justice for all times to come.

Warm regards and best wishes

Delhi FR

ABOUT US
Delhi FrontRunners and Walkers (Delhi FR) is for transgender & same-sex desiring persons and their supporting friends & families. It aims to promote outdoor events and activities such as jogging, walking, cycling, and trekking.

Delhi FR is a mixed group: some gay, some straight, some women, some men, some young, some not so, some out, some not.. There is no fee or sponsorship involved. You can run or walk, depending on what you like. It is great for health, plus a nice way to meet people.

More about us on http://www.delhifrontrunners.org

]]> Comment on A Tribute to Justice A. P. Shah from GayBombay by Sanjeev http://www.gaybombay.org/?p=1334#comment-873 Sanjeev Fri, 19 Feb 2010 14:21:14 +0000 http://www.gaybombay.org/?p=1334#comment-873 I salute Justice Shah for his fearless, ethically principled and enlightened judgements (not just the reading down of Sec. 377) rooted in a deep sense of compassion and humanitarianism, a passion to fight injustice and a profound understanding of the spirit and letter of the Law, the Constitution of India and of what living in a true democracy should mean. I believe, all right-minded people - not just in India, but all over the world - can only salute such a man and untiring Guardian of the rights of the common people - yours, mine, ours AND 'theirs'. As long as people like Chief Justice (emeritus) Shah and Justice Murlidhar are around; as long as the rest of us can - and do - carry on their good work, there's still hope for this country! Congrats and thanks, Doc and Delhi Front Runners, for your inspired - and inspiring - initiative to express to Chief Justice (emeritus) Shah what he and his judgements will always mean to all of us, regardless of what tomorrow brings! Way to go, guys - All Power to You! Warmest regards S*njeev I salute Justice Shah for his fearless, ethically principled and enlightened judgements (not just the reading down of Sec. 377) rooted in a deep sense of compassion and humanitarianism, a passion to fight injustice and a profound understanding of the spirit and letter of the Law, the Constitution of India and of what living in a true democracy should mean.

I believe, all right-minded people – not just in India, but all over the world – can only salute such a man and untiring Guardian of the rights of the common people – yours, mine, ours AND ‘theirs’.

As long as people like Chief Justice (emeritus) Shah and Justice Murlidhar are around; as long as the rest of us can – and do – carry on their good work, there’s still hope for this country!

Congrats and thanks, Doc and Delhi Front Runners, for your inspired – and inspiring – initiative to express to Chief Justice (emeritus) Shah what he and his judgements will always mean to all of us, regardless of what tomorrow brings!

Way to go, guys – All Power to You!

Warmest regards

S*njeev

]]> Comment on A Tribute to Justice A. P. Shah from GayBombay by mubasshir http://www.gaybombay.org/?p=1334#comment-872 mubasshir Thu, 18 Feb 2010 18:55:58 +0000 http://www.gaybombay.org/?p=1334#comment-872 RESPECTED SIR!!! CONGRATS FOR CREATING A HISTORY OF SORTS WITH UR HISTORIC JUDGEMENT RESPECTED SIR!!!
CONGRATS FOR CREATING A HISTORY OF SORTS WITH UR HISTORIC JUDGEMENT

]]> Comment on A Tribute to Justice A. P. Shah from GayBombay by Aditya Bondyopadhyay http://www.gaybombay.org/?p=1334#comment-871 Aditya Bondyopadhyay Wed, 17 Feb 2010 14:06:26 +0000 http://www.gaybombay.org/?p=1334#comment-871 Dear Hon'ble Justice Shah, In 1998, Anand Grover gave me a brief to research and draft the petition for Naz. I was a young lawyer then working with the Lawyers Collective in their HIV/AIDS Unit in Delhi. As a gay lawyer, I put in my best to doing the job. But as a gay Indian, I had thought that this petition would be another blip on the radar of the various protests that we have ineffectually orchestrated over time to seek our rights. Given the environment of discrimination and neglect within which we gay men lived, and the sheer invisibilisation of our selves by every organ of the state, I did not really belive that the judiciary would rise up to actually give us what we were asking for, what we felt was legally and ethically due to us under the constitutional order of the the nation. I felt that this petition too would go the same way as the earlier ABVA petition challenging 377, namely get mired in the court rostering till it is quietly swiped under the carpet and its fate obscured from most public knowledge or scrutiny. As I followed the ups and downs of the case, this sense was reinforced, by the way the state responded, by the sheer and long silence of the Health ministry, by the casual and callous dismissal by a previous bench, and by the sheer homophobia and hate that was exhibited outside the court by the likes of the political right-wing at every public fora where a debate ensued pursuant to the case. My gratefulness to you and your brother judge Murlidharan J is for proving me wrong, my intutions wrong. What you did goes beyond just my happiness at being validated as a gay man in my own country, at being a criminal no more. It goes beyond because you reinforced the faith in the judicial system where the likes of me could still find hope and justice. I think it saved me the lawyer from disillusionment, more than it saved my dignity as a gay man. It is a debt that I do not think I can ever repay. With the best of regards and a wish for a happy and productive retired life. Yours truly, Aditya Bondyopadhyay Dear Hon’ble Justice Shah,
In 1998, Anand Grover gave me a brief to research and draft the petition for Naz. I was a young lawyer then working with the Lawyers Collective in their HIV/AIDS Unit in Delhi. As a gay lawyer, I put in my best to doing the job. But as a gay Indian, I had thought that this petition would be another blip on the radar of the various protests that we have ineffectually orchestrated over time to seek our rights. Given the environment of discrimination and neglect within which we gay men lived, and the sheer invisibilisation of our selves by every organ of the state, I did not really belive that the judiciary would rise up to actually give us what we were asking for, what we felt was legally and ethically due to us under the constitutional order of the the nation. I felt that this petition too would go the same way as the earlier ABVA petition challenging 377, namely get mired in the court rostering till it is quietly swiped under the carpet and its fate obscured from most public knowledge or scrutiny.

As I followed the ups and downs of the case, this sense was reinforced, by the way the state responded, by the sheer and long silence of the Health ministry, by the casual and callous dismissal by a previous bench, and by the sheer homophobia and hate that was exhibited outside the court by the likes of the political right-wing at every public fora where a debate ensued pursuant to the case.

My gratefulness to you and your brother judge Murlidharan J is for proving me wrong, my intutions wrong. What you did goes beyond just my happiness at being validated as a gay man in my own country, at being a criminal no more. It goes beyond because you reinforced the faith in the judicial system where the likes of me could still find hope and justice. I think it saved me the lawyer from disillusionment, more than it saved my dignity as a gay man. It is a debt that I do not think I can ever repay.

With the best of regards and a wish for a happy and productive retired life.

Yours truly,
Aditya Bondyopadhyay

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