On the way to work this morning, I voraciously combed the paper for all dope on the HC’s judgement to decriminalise homosexuality. My eyes grew moist, as I thought about all my friends in the gay community.
Yesterday’s high court judgement was long overdue. But a colleague observed with scepticism, “I doubt it will change the perception of gay people in India. This media is simply hyping things.”
Maybe.
But imagine the sheer confidence that any gay person would feel, knowing that he or she could now legally exercise their own sexual preference in this country? Well, not the entire country, yet (but when the capital takes the lead, the rest of the country will hopefully follow suit. Fancy this happening in Delhi, which is perceived more conservative and insensitive than say Mumbai or Bangalore).
This fact changes everything.
No longer does a gay person need to be quiet when harassed, blackmailed, extorted or jailed. Besides, gay people seem to always be associated with more promiscuity. I quizzed a gay friend of mine about this, and he responded that one reason could be that all liaisons and relationships need to be conducted in secret, because your have the law against you. They can’t get married, claim mediclaim for their partner, et al.
I feel sad that Christian groups in India are investing time and energy in opposing this judgment. What ever happened to tolerance?
Bill Maher conducted a borderline comical interview in his documentary Religulous, where he interviews a gay chap who turned pastor and claims to be a straight pastor. In other words he was ‘cured’ of his condition.
Bill flirts with him, in his typical brazen style, and it’s obvious that the pastor naturally responded to it. All that suppression is SUCH a waste of energy. Besides, if we just allowed gay people to be happily gay, I think this world would have a lot more character. Touche.
The LA Times features an empathetic piece on this development:
Personally, I think that though the Indian media is indeed going to town by sensationalising things, which can sometimes be a good thing, they do report with a little more empathy, and not make a carnival of the whole event. Some restraint and empathy, is the need of the hour for the Indian media in this country.
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written with alot of passion