Yesterday, the Supreme Court has given order to re-examine the constitutional validity of Section 377 of IPC and now a Gay Indian prince from Gujarat has opened his palace for the LGBTQ community.
The heir of Maharaja of Rajpipla in Gujarat, Prince Manvendra Singh Goli is converting his royal palace which has 15-acre compound in Hanumanteshwar into a help center for LGBTQ community in collaboration with the Lakshya Trust Charity.
The help center will provide refugee and will enable the people of LGBTQ community to take English or Computing classes and will also have access to medical facilities to be provided by the help center.
Almost a decade ago a charity to raise awareness about the prevention of HIV and AIDS was initiated by the campaigner after he was disowned by his family after coming out in open about his sexuality.
Prince Manvendra stated that people belonging to sexual minority including those who have been shunned down by their families and thrown out of their homes can seek shelter in the help center whose work is in progress. He further added that with this project of his he aims to empower the country so that reliance on families for survival is minimized or removed.
He clarified that in India coming out in open about one’s sexuality makes the person a social outcast and generally are forced to leave their own houses and are boycotted from the society and a lot of people are dependent on their families or parents for survival.
He said that with this help center he wants to socially and financially empower people who openly accept their sexual preference so that they are not affected in any way and have a social security system of their own even when the society does not want to accept them.
The move comes at a time when supreme court yesterday has ordered to re-examine section 377 by a larger bench while hearing the petition of members of LGBTQ community alleging that they live in a continuous fear of being prosecuted. Section 377 criminalizes the same sex physical relations as it lay down that it is against the order of nature.
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