By Anam Mittra:
In June 2015, the US Supreme Court made a historic judgement and ruled 5-4 in favour of same-sex marriage applicable across the nation.
Despite strides taken in the western world on this issue, nearly 4 in 1 gay Americans have been rejected by a family member or close friend, whereas, in the UK 2 in 3 LGBTQIA+ individuals have experienced a hate crime and never reported it. The statistics will be just as disturbing and more gruesome for India.
An infographic created by infographicworld.com details the history of the LGBTQIA+ movement in the US but also shows disturbing statistics of countries that award the death penalty for being gay; examples including Mauritania, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia. Violence against the LGBTQIA+ in India goes mostly unreported and/or not investigated.
The infographic charts a long journey of achieving equal rights for the LGBTQIA+ community in the US and shows how political will and the lack thereof can make all the difference. Unfortunately in India, the LGBT movement has faced resistance from a lack of political will as well as regressive social norms. The striking down of the opening motion of MP Tharoor’s bill repealing Section 377 is an indicator of just how long the battle of equal rights needs to be fought in India.
From Visually.