India decriminalizes homosexuality; AG targets dioceses

A landmark judgment by India’s highest court has overturned a colonial-era law that criminalizes consensual gay sex, in a long-fought for victory for the LGBTQ community.
The five-judge bench reached a unanimous decision Thursday in the capital New Delhi. Delivering his decision, Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra said, “The LGBTQ community has the same fundamental rights as citizens. The identity of a person is very important and we have to vanquish prejudice, embrace inclusion and ensure equal rights.”

“Intimacy and privacy is a matter of choice. We have to bid adieu to stereotypes and prejudices,” he said.
The court verdict is a major milestone for LGBTQ-identifying people across the country, where homosexuality remains a social taboo and gay people face endemic discrimination.

And, as an footnote, I would like to add:

The New York attorney general’s office has issued subpoenas to every Catholic diocese in the state, becoming the latest U.S. state to embark on a major investigation of sex crimes committed and covered up by Catholic priests. And New Jersey quickly followed on Thursday, announcing a criminal task force focused on investigating sexual abuse by Catholic clergy.

As someone who has seen homosexuals weep at the stresses associated with their own secret lives, I can only say, "amen!"

Both raise the question in my mind, what is "the church" (in its most generic sense) without all its tut-tutting and down-the-nose statutes and observations?