Aravind Adiga's The White Tiger won the 2008 Man Booker Prize, the most prestigious individual book prize in English (only writers from Commonwealth countries are eligible).
The world chess championship between 35-year-old Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria and defending champion Viswanathan Anand of India, 40, began on Sunday in Sofia and surprisingly the first two games have ended decisively (most super-grandmaster matches are draws). You can see Game 1, Game 2 and Game 3 online.
MadProfessah's favorite writer, Jhumpa Lahiri, has had her most recent book Unaccustomed Earth listed in the New York Times list of the 10 Best Books of 2008. Lahiri won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her first book (a collection of short stories titled Interpreter of Maladies) in 2000.
The Indian Government has agreed not to appeal the recent New Delhi court ruling striking down the country's sodomy law, effectively decriminalizing homosexuality in the world's second most populous country.
While there was no major outcry against the ruling, some conservative religious groups made it clear they would fight it. Among those was Kaushal, a Hindu astrologer, who filed the first petition with the Supreme Court. Leaders of religious groups are also contemplating filing petitions.The person appealing the ruling is an astrologer named Sushil Kumar Kaushal who said that "If such abnormality is permitted, then tomorrow people might seek permission for having sex with animals.”
The Supreme Court said it will hear Kaushal’s petition on July 20 to decide whether it has merit, said Anand Grover, the lawyer for Naz Foundation, a gay rights group that filed the original petition against Section 377 eight years ago.
The Supreme Court also asked the Indian government and the Naz Foundation to appear before it to hear their views.
After listening to all parties, the court will decide whether to temporarily suspend the Delhi High Court order while Kaushal’s petition is heard. The Supreme Court ruling will be binding nationally.
IN A major relief to the gay and homosexual community, the Delhi High Court on Thursday (July2), said that consensual sex between two adults is legal and cannot be punished.The ruling came out just a few days after the second ever gay pride parade was held in New Delhi on Sunday. Congratulations!
The verdict of the Delhi High court also decriminalised homosexuality by striking down Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The court, however, made it clear that Section 377 was applicable in cases of Sodomy.
A bench of chief justice Ajit Prakash Shah and Justice S Muralidhar, said that Section 377 of IPC needed amendment as otherwise it would violate Article 21 of the Indian constitution.
Section 377 states that homosexuality and 'unnatural sex' is a criminal act.
The decision of the Delhi High Court will now make it easier for the Union government to come out clear on Section 377. The government had given hints that it was not opposed to amending the law but had to take into account religious sentiments of different sections of the society.
Intrepid gay reporter Rex Wockner is reporting that the New Delhi High Court will issue a ruling on the fate of India's sodomy law at 10:30am Thursday July 2nd, local time.
Rishi Idnani caught my eye on Queerty.com awhile ago and was a featured Eye Candy model here at MadProfessah.com way back in January. The South Asian hottie is a New York-based model. In honor of Gay pride in India being celebrated throughout that country yesterday (despite the existence of an archaic anti-sodomy law) I thought we should feature him again. Enjoy!
No place for a colonial relic
We ask the Home Minister to decriminalise homosexuality in India. As an emerging global power, India cannot continue to rely on archaic colonial laws that are nearly 150 years old and which oppress a group of citizens whose sexuality is a normal variation of human behaviour.
Speaking as representatives of the mental health profession, we assert that there is no evidence that homosexuality is a mental illness, now supported by a large body of research. But as a result of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code still being law, there is government sanction of such discrimination. A group of citizens are being unjustifiably denied essential freedoms, and are often physically abused and blackmailed by the police and other malicious individuals.
Dr E. Mohandas, President-Elect, Indian Psychiatric Society
Dr Nada Stotland, President, American Psychiatric Association
Prof Dinesh Bhugra, President, Royal College of Psychiatrists
Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire is the critic's darling of 2008. MadProfessah has been a big fan of Boyle's previous films, especially 28 Days Later... and Sunshine (see my review) although the director is probably best known for Trainspotting.
It reiterates that all LGBTIs are defined as a "natural person" and their physical growth as well as sexual orientation, gender identity, expression are all part of natural growing process. Thus equal rights, identity and expression must be ensured regardless of their sex at birth.
The writ petition was filed by Blue Diamond Society and other 3 LGBTI organisations in Nepal demanding the protection and defence of the equal rights of sexual and gender minorities.
"Reading this decision my eyes were filled with tears and I felt we are the most proud LGBTI citizens of Nepal in the world," said Sunit Pant, Nepal's only gay MP.
"A legal note of point has been raised for the new constitution of Nepal while ensuring the equal rights to individuals, like the bill of tights from South Africa, and non-discrimination provisions on the grounds of sexual orientations and gender identities must be introduced."
The Court has also issued a directive order to form a seven-member committee, with a doctor appointed by Health Ministry, one representative from National Human rights commission, the Law Ministry, one socialist appointed by government of Nepal, a representative from the Nepal police, a representative from Ministry of Population and Environment and one advocate as a representative from the LGBTI community, to conduct a study into the other countries' practice on same-sex marriage.
Based on its recommendation the government will introduce a same-sex marriage bill.
This is an amazing step forward for International LGBT human rights.
The Delhi high court last Friday completed hearing arguments in the case and had reserved its judgment on a petition to deciminalise private consensual sex between adults.MadProfessah is always interested in advances in international LGBT rights, and in particular in countries that I have travelled to.
The seven-year-old petition is seeking to have Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code read down to exclude oral and anal sex between adults of any biological sex although the court hearings and media coverage tend to centre around sexual relations between adult men.
New Delhi-based gay rights activist and lawyer Aditya Bondyopadhyay explained in an email to Fridae that although Section 377, which criminalises “carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal", is technically gender neutral and is equally applicable to heterosexual and homosexual sodomy, its use has been mainly to target gay sex between men.
The petition was filed in 2001 by Naz Foundation, a nongovernmental organisation working on HIV/AIDS and sexual health issues.
Gay activist and founder of NGO Humsafar afar, Ashok Row Kavi, clarified in a media report that the petition does not seek a repeal of Section 377 so that child sex offenses and male rape can continue to be prosecuted under the reinterpretation of the section, that would then exclude consensual sex between adults.
While rarely used in actual prosecutions today, the petition says that the almost 150-year-old law is used to target and harass lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people, as well as HIV/AIDS activists and NGO workers. The law is also abused by the police to extort money and to blackmail gay men. The section, which dates back to 1860, provides for life imprisonment, a term exceeding 10 years and a fine.
It is the first time an Indian court will deliver a verdict for the section. Similar laws have been struck down since the 1980s in the US, UK, Australia, South Africa and the US. As with India, the former British Asian colonies of Bangladesh, Brunei, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, and Singapore continue to criminalise same sex relations under provisions similar to Section 377 present in each country’s penal code. Hong Kong repealed the section in 1991.
On May 8, 2008, World Chess champion Viswanathan Anand of India won his fifth chess Oscar as the Best Player in the World for his 2007 chess performances. Anand also won chess's highest honor in 1997, 1998, 2003 and 2004.
GM Viswanathan Anand of India, won the 25th edition of the Morelia/Linares super grandmaster tournament. The current World Champion, one of the two top-ranked players in the world, finished a half point (+4-1=9) ahead of GM Magnus Carlsen (Norway, +5-3=6). Carlsen, 17 years old, finished a half point ahead of GMs Levon Aronian (Armenia, +3-2=9) and Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria, +5-4=5).
