Five students at a Catholic Church-run college in Kerala, India have been expelled on April 2 after producing a short film with gay themes for an inter-college film festival.
The students have defended their film on grounds of artistic expression saying that their film was not intended for public viewing and was "targeted at the festival crowd" where "only creativity matters and issues of morality are swept aside," but school authorities were unconvinced.
"We teach modern technology and so we are generally open to new ideas. But this film was outrageously indecent," a senior teacher at the college was quoted as telling a local newspaper.
Despite the thriving gay scenes in the major cities, gay sex is considered taboo and is criminalised under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. The move also comes weeks after three Indian states - Maharashtra, Gujerat and Madhya Pradesh - banned sex education in schools.
Reader's Comments
Punishment does not stop someone from Loving!
Look at the crime rate and HIV+ cases in India!
Wake up my dear friend!
those retrictions are usally only for the Malays . I can tell you there are many places here where you can hold hands on the beach or while you are shopping with your boyfriend with no fear of prejudice . Honestly I feel so much more liberated here then I would anywhere else . I do kiss and hug the guy I am dating on the sofa at my local starbucks , can you ?
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