Tell someone u are happy and gay and you will be at the receiving end of weird glances.'I am gay', is notreally an expression that can be used to convey your happiness anymore. The innocence of the word gay has been lost to sexual preferences. However, the morning papers on 3rd of July looked gay enough in both senses of the word. There were men hugging men and women hugging women - nothing unusual, just that the text that was used to explain the picture wasn't quite ordinary. The headlines read - High Court legalises Article 377.
The law for gays may or may not be legalised, but it has certainly opened the pandora's box and let out the wors 'sex' into the air. Sex is the buzz word and debates on the topic are unplugged. There are people who are uninhibited about the topic and speak endlessly. When there is a debate on gays, everyone has an opinion as most people aren't directly in the line of 'gaydom'. If a person prefers a partner of the same sex, he/she is not ready to air their preferences. So, straight people vent out their angst openly by talking about something that's next to what they aren't too comfortable talking about.
The society isn't very kind to people who stray away from the mainstrem. There is ostracisation of the person or the entire family and in such cases the person is forced to live according to others wishes. His/her life is lost. It is easy to say that gays should be accepted in the society but how many of us would actually accept a near and dear one, if we were to wake up one morning and were told that they
wanted to live with a person of the same sex! Even if we did accept them, it would be an ordeal to live through it day in and day out. The society is in for a drastic makeover, and the picture seems rather morbid. You would be inviting Mr and Mr x or ms and ms y for dinner. The straight woman would be running after her husband, just to see that he doesn't get trapped by the M X and same goes fr the man. Though I am aware of the fact that our history gives us proof of the existence of gays, I dread those times.
LGBT's have been around for a long time. Anyone who has lived in a hostel must have had a brush with it for sure. The forces, where men stay away from their families for long is a soft spot for activities that were kept under the wrap of art 377. Most of the time sex among men in these cases aren't consensual. How many men have actually complained that they were sexually harassed by another man?? none, is the answer. Men are embarassed, for a change! By repealing the act the government would be doing a great favour to the society. This, because the cases of rape of men will then be registered and action would be taken against the criminal.
To make matters worse for the straight world and their sensibilities, there were Pride marches in Delhi, chennai and bangalore. Slogans like 'Hindu muslim sikh isai, homo hetero bhai bhai', were being proudly displayed. Kisses and hugs were a common sight. These are a reminder that there is no running away fom the fact that gayism and lesbianism exist in India. LGBT are here to co-exist. Just because we do not acknowledge a certain thing, doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Bhubaneswar of all places also had it's share of gay rights activism brought to the streets. I do hope the Chief Minister was listening. Since I believe in the adage 'live and let live', I personally think it doesn't really matter what people do in their bedrooms, especially if it's consensual. To each his own.. and yet my last prayer fr the day is 'God, take care of my family and keep them safe from thoughts of the LGBT world'.
7 comments:
enInteresting writeup. I personally have not given a lot of thought about Article 377! I have been in San Francisco Bay Are when the same sex marriage ceremonies were conducted. Having lived in that area for around 6 years, I have a very liberal (or lenient) towards gays and lesbians. In fact, in my professional life, I have worked with a person(still my friend), who was gay. He never made any pass at anyone I know of and he has been living with the same partner for a very long time now. So he became my measuring stick for such personalities. :)
Dear JD
Thanks for dropping in & leaving comments on my blog. pl. continue your visits regularly.
As regards your post on LGBT(I am unsure about the expansion)it is very aptly presented. I watched Barkha Dutts program on "Gays & Article 377" in 'We the People' last week on NDTV. There too the conclusion was the same - what two persons do in their bedrooms consensually is no else's business.
The Christian Priest(one of the participants) who stated that gays would be looked at "compassionately" by the church was torn to pieces and silenced by other participants.
Thanks for visiting my blog and for your lovely comment.
I liked your blog very much.Very nice post.Its good that the gay marriage has been legal in India and it should have been much before.As I am staying in Australia so it is not at all a new thing for me but for many Indians it will be difficult to digest.
@ Nona,
well, India will take time to accept gay marriages. Let's not forget that even inter caste marriages are still a taboo in many parts of the country..
btw, it's good that u decided to come bak to India.. hope the water supply is bak :-)
@RR,
thanx fr ur comments. the pictures in ur post were really good..
@Babli,
You are right. You know how hyper people can get when any thing is changed here.. But, what has been kept under wraps fr so long is bound to change..
interesting read...and insightful on what we think as human being esp in regards to what happens in society and what happens in our homes. I enjoyed reading it and seeing two sides of your views :).
personally I am very comfortable with the idea of same sex marriage and sexual preferences. maybe it's because I have lots of close friends who have preference for partners of the same sex. I know I would accept it without a flinch, even if it is close to home. I also think that once we accept the situation it's not an ordeal anymore. The ordeal comes when we bother too much about what people will say. But then again, I've learned really early that people will say something about anything. society will always has an opinion about everything and people will always pass judgement. So I don't care too much. I always do what makes me happy and comfortable. :)
Thanks for visiting my blog. See you around. I'll keep visiting :)
Thanks for writing in A.. I 'm glad u do what you heart tells u to do.. That's the only way to be truly happy.. People can go take a hike..
Will look frward to your comments..
I am still ambivalent towards gays, The taboo against them in our society plus the wrong media attention they get, plus the derogatory ways they have been used in movies (Indian) so far have made me quite wary of them, but with age, I guess my opinions are changing, and I realise that they have a right to live freely too..
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