We met Harsh Vardhan

Dear supporter, We’ve had such an eventful 24 hours! After receiving hundreds of touching messages from Jhatkaa members we delivered your voices against criminalisation of homosexuality to the Health Minister Harsh Vardhan. And the response was positive! Mr. Vardhan reiterated that every individual deserves basic Human Rights. He said he will happily take up our concerns with regards to the decriminalisation of homosexuality, and propose it with the requisite authorities. We have been asked to make an official written submission of our expectations for him to review and forward on Monday. This is an important moment for us to strengthen our movement -- can you share this good news with your community? Please FORWARD this email to your friends and ask them to sign this petition: http://bit.ly/RepealSec377 The next steps are as follows: First we’re going to meet him on Monday to submit an official letter requesting him to make an statement on behalf of the health ministry. We’re going to ask him to publically stress on the importance of decriminalising homosexuality for the prevention of HIV/AIDs in addition to the importance of equal rights for all people. Secondly, we need to ensure the conversation on equal rights stays alive in the public domain. The Curative Petition for repealing section 377 of the Indian penal code will soon be heard by the Supreme Court, and we must ensure the bench of Judges know that Indian people still care about this issue. Help keep this fire alive. FORWARD this email to your friends and get them to sign this petition: http://bit.ly/RepealSec377 We'll be back in touch with you early next week. Thank you for your continued participation, Deepa and the Jhatkaa.org team