Bangalore: LGBT pride parade demands repeal of Section 377

Members of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community took to the streets here on Sunday and demanded that all the laws against sexual minorities must be repealed.

"Our main demand is that please repeal all the laws which are against the sexual minorities. Second thing is for a National and State Transgender Welfare Board for this community. The third thing is to bring favourable laws for this community to reject discrimination that we are facing," said Akai, an LGBT activist.

She added that the community had still not derived any benefit from the Supreme Court's historic ruling earlier this year which recognized transgender persons as a "third gender".

"The Supreme Court gave a recent judgement which states that transgenders are equal citizens of this country but still the full freedom of this whole comment has not been delivered properly. How many parliamentarians will speak about sexuality and gender before the parliament?" she asked.

The Supreme Court had in December 2013 reinstated the ban on gay sex in the country, following the four-year period of decriminalisation that had helped bring homosexuality into the open.

Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code bans 'sex against the order of nature', and the person committing the Act can be punished with up to 10 years in jail.