Gay sex among consenting adults is not a criminal offence, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled last Thursday (Express photo by Kevin Dsouza) Gay sex among consenting adults is not a criminal offence, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled last Thursday (Express photo by Kevin Dsouza)

Days after the Supreme Court decriminalised homosexuality, a Tamil Nadu-based pastor created a flutter in a court complex Monday, raising slogans against the landmark judgment and claiming that same-sex marriage would lead to natural calamities, police said.

Father Felix Jebasingh of Puliyakulam Church came to the district court complex and standing in the corridor shouted slogans urging people not to support gay marriages. “Please do not support the court judgment on Section 377 (of the Indian Penal Code (IPC)). The Jesus Christ is arriving. His arrival is imminent. These type of marriages will lead to total destruction of the society,” the pastor shouted vociferously even as police escorted him out. He said, “God has destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah using fire and sulphur because they allowed homosexuality… don’t support homosexuality.”

The pastor, clad in a full-sleeve white shirt and a black pant, was referring to Sodom and Gomorrah, notoriously sinful cities in the biblical book of Genesis, destroyed by sulphur and fire. Police said the pastor was taken to a nearby police station and later let off.

Gay sex among consenting adults is not a criminal offence, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled last Thursday, holding that part of a 158-year-old colonial law that criminalised it, violated the constitutional right to equality and dignity. The top court decriminalised part of Section 377 of the IPC that criminalises consensual gay sex, saying it was irrational, indefensible and manifestly arbitrary. The order was welcomed by members of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) community and various political parties.

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