[Reader-list] invitation to talk on lesbian and gay rights

[Aarti]

Dear All,

I am unclear on the "biological" aspects of sexual preference and so 
will not comment. Generally I am uncomfortable with biologically 
deterministic arguments because even when they are framed in this way, 
which is to use biology to support a mode of being, they seek to defend 
or counter based some idea of what is "natural". [So to those who say 
one kind of desire is "unnatural" (summed up succintly in 377 as sexual 
acts "against the order of nature", we say its genes.] Framed in this 
way it leaves little room for personal choice, agency, or even a 
consideration of how modes of being are socio-historically produced.

Warmly
Aarti

Shah Jahan Bhatti wrote:

> Some people are born gay and others are not, it all depends on the 
> genetical code we recieve from our parents. Who is good and who is bad 
> is a personal preference.
>
> */A Khanna <s0454533 at sms.ed.ac.uk>/* wrote:
>
>     Voices Against 377 presents
>
>     a talk on
>
>     LESBIAN AND GAY HUMAN RIGHTS IN INDIA
>     International and Comparative Perspectives
>
>     by Dr. Robert Wintemute
>     Professor of Human Rights Law,
>     School of Law, King's College, University of London
>
>     followed by a discussion.
>
>     Where: Casuarina Hall, India Habitat Centre, Lodi Road, New Delhi.
>     When: Thursday, 23rd February 2006, 6.30 PM.
>
>     Dr. Robert Wintemute is Professor of Human Rights Law in the
>     School of Law,
>     King's College, University of London, where he teaches European Union
>     Law, Human
>     Rights Law, and Anti-Discrimination Law. He is also the director
>     in London of
>     the four-year LLB in English and French law jointly offered by
>     King's College
>     and the Universite de Paris (Pantheon-Sorbonne).
>
>     He is the author of 'Sexual Orientation and Human Rights: The
>     United States
>     Constitution, The European Convention and the Canadian Charter' (OUP,
>     1995/1997)
>     and the editor (with honorary co-editor Mads Andenaes) of 'Legal
>     Recognition of
>     Same-Sex Partnerships: A Study of National, International and
>     European Law'
>     (Oxford, Hart Publishing, 2001).
>
>     Voices Against 377 is a coalition of NGOs based in Delhi where a
>     united voice
>     is being articulated against the Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code
>     which has
>     been a source of serious human rights violations.
>
>     Text of the Indian Penal Code, Section 377 reads as:
>     "Unnantural Offences: Whosoever has carnal intercourse against the
>     order of
>     nature, with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with
>     imprisonment for
>     life, or with imprisonment with either description for a term, which
>     may extend
>     to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine."
>
>     _________________________________________
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>
>
> *M. SHAH JAHAN BHATTI*
>
> *Imamgate Dera Ismail Khan NWFP Pakistan*
>
> *Phone 92-0961-711512*
>
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