That crazy-mad and delightfully dirty old man Kushwant Singh had a good
parting shot in his Indian Express Column last Sunday: It is not original
with KS; sent in by 'a contributor', but it was a first for me, and my
perverse sense of humor set me to smiling broadly; then, when I told it to a
gay acquaintance---he already knew the punch line; so perhaps even Kushwant
is peddling an old joke:
WHEN I WAS A CHILD, HOMOSEXUALITY WAS A CRIME IN INDIA. AS I GREW UP, IT WAS
ACCEPTABLE.
NOW IT IS LEGAL. I'D BETTER LEAVE INDIA, BEFORE THEY MAKE IT COMPULSORY.
And, I might I add ---*'CONDITIONS APPLY'.
Now at my age I can begin to think about such stuff without too much danger
of barometer rising. I get a little bored by all this talk about 'genetic'
origins, etc. Quite frankly, in hindsight, I don't think I would ever be
able to honestly tell 'which way I swung'. Seems to me that in mid-teens or
thereabouts a guy (don't know about the girls) main concern is with
self-gratification 'sex-wise'. In my young days this was much too difficult
to manage on one's own, for fear of having to tell the priest or else go to
hell 'for the duration'. I get the feeling now that the 'moral theologians'
are not really underscoring that hellfire point anymore; we certainly don't
hear as much from the pulpit about the benefits of 'pleasuring', as we did
then when the Parish Mission preachers scared us witless with solemn pledges
of eternal fire and brimstone in recognition of our 'self-abuse'.
I think that most young fellows (and maybe girls too) could pretty much
'swing either way', depending on circumstances; and once a tentative
beginning is made things get easier with each passing day. If, for whatever
reason, one found pleasure in another's company (regardless of gender) it
could very soon become quite normal. Somewhere at some time I even read that
one of my literary mentors, Evelyn Waugh (who went on to have at least two
hetero-marriages) is thought to have through a 'gay period' when he was in
Public School. I can't find the reference now, but if it was true I would
presume it was simply a consequence of not having many girls around. Many of
those Oxford/Cambridge chaps (some of the best of them) took on same-gender
relationships under similar conditions, and in my Canada it was generally
perceived that in 'les petites seminaires' there was lots of it going down.
I have it on good authority from one who had 'firsthand experience' that
just before my own generation there was a junior seminary protocol in
'Jansenist' morality circles featuring 'baton de chastité'---whereby quite
young boys, who might hardly know where babies came from, could tuck back
the precocious little wiggler with aid of a small stick---so as to avoid the
hazards of hand contact. Moral Theology must have progressed a bit since
that time---less than a century ago.
So, I guess my point is: thank God we're able to see things under different
lighting conditions now. I see no reason why people should feel the need to
bedeck themselves with pink ribbons and shout it from the rooftops. 'Gay
Pride' and 'Gay Parading don't ring bells for me; for too many people it has
been a millstone around the neck, and for too long. Pride goeth before a
Fall, whether one is gay or 'straight'. Why not leave off the posturing and
simply get on with it---living, that is!
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