Mr. Gay World 2018 hails SC verdict for LGBT community

Hailing the Supreme Court verdict on decriminalizing homosexuality, Kolkata boy Samarpan Maiti, the second runner-up of Mr. Gay World 2018, said on Thursday that it is like getting "released from a dark jail," as he felt sensitizing the society would now be the key.

The apex court has ruled that Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) that criminalized gay sex between consenting adults is "manifestly arbitrary".

"I felt like being released from a dark jail. But our work starts from today: to sensitize the society, fight for marriage equality, right to adopt children and so other things," Maiti said. "Logic and love have won," he said.

The 29-year old boy thanked everyone in a Facebook post, saying, "I thank everyone, my allies, the honorable judges and the activists. We are all born to be loved. I cannot express my joy in words."

He congratulated every LGBTQ citizens of India for this much-awaited freedom.

"When Delhi High Court judgment was overturned by the Supreme Court in December 2013, I was broken, I lost my faith in the legal system. But this judgment today made me believe that our judicial system is strong. They finally freed India of the British colonial era," he told IANS.

Earlier, Maiti, who is a cancer research scientist, had mentioned in an IANS interview that even if Section 377 of Indian Penal Code is done away with, it will matter little for the LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer) community, as society continues discrimination and violence.