Gay Indians can browse for their own Valentine’s Day cards for the first time, with the country’s largest card chain rolling out a small selection this year after a historic court ruling.
The Archies card company said it had decided to bring out the speciality cards after the High Court last year decriminalized homosexuality.
“We have been toying with this idea for a while and then came the court judgment in which it was clearly said that it’s legal to be gay,” Archies company spokesman Yohan Arya told AFP.
“So we felt this was the right time to add these cards to those we already have for the occasion,” he said.
Homosexual consumers are not exactly spoiled for choice, with just two cards for gay men, two for lesbians and one gender-neutral card.
The wording of the messages is also pretty basic. A lesbian version says: “For my girl friend from your girl friend.” The gender-neutral card reads: “Oh how totully [sic] gay!”
Homosexuality had been illegal in India since 1860 under a statute introduced by British colonial rulers that banned “carnal intercourse against the order of nature.” Conviction carried a fine and maximum 10-year jail term.
The High Court verdict last July was widely welcomed by health campaigners and gay rights activists who argued that decriminalization would help India combat HIV/AIDS. India has an estimated 2.5 million people living with HIV.
But several religious groups have challenged the ruling and are demanding that the Indian government appeal to the Supreme Court.
The gay-themed cards are likely to fuel the fire of radical Hindu groups already staunchly opposed to any celebration of Valentine’s Day, which they see as an erosion of Indian culture and a symbol of Western encroachment.(AFP)
印度同志族群可以挑選專屬的情人節卡片了。在一項歷史性的裁決之後，印度最大的卡片連鎖公司今年首度推出一系列同志情人卡。
「亞奇斯」卡片公司表示，去年高等法院使同性戀合法化後，他們決定推出同志專屬卡片。
亞奇斯公司發言人約翰．阿雅對法新社表示：「我們已經討論這個構想好一陣子了，後來法院明確裁定同性戀為合法。」
他說：「因此我們覺得現在是把這些同志情人節卡片，納入既有卡片系列的好時機。」
但同志消費群並沒有太多選擇，「亞奇斯」僅推出兩款男同志卡、兩款女同志卡，還有一款不分性別的中性卡。
卡片上的祝賀字句也很簡單。女同志卡上寫著：「給我的女友，妳的女友上。」而中性卡上則寫著：「噢，好異（一；sic為拉丁文中的原意如此）個同志啊！」
一八六Ｏ年以來，印度一直沿用英國殖民時期頒布的禁止「非自然性行為」法來禁止同性戀。違法者除了科以罰金外，最高可處十年有期徒刑。
印度高等法院去年七月作出這項裁決，廣受衛健運動人士和同志權利主義者的讚賞，他們主張同性戀合法化有助於印度防止愛滋病。印度約有兩百五十萬人感染愛滋。
但若干宗教團體對這項裁決提出質疑，並強烈要求印度政府上訴到最高法院。
這些同志專屬情人卡很可能引發激進印度教團體的怒火，他們視情人節為腐蝕印度文化及西方入侵的象徵，因此一直堅決反對任何情人節慶祝活動。（法新社╱翻譯：袁星塵）
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