Mr.Dasgupta's article is balanced, reasoned and very
well written. There is little to disagree in the
contents of what he has written, except that as a
layman I am unaware of the 'connections' of gay
activists with media, aid agencies etc.
But I want him to know why such outbursts (from gay
activists)occurs. Mind you I am an individual not an
activist, nor are any of my friends:
First, and most important, is the stereotyping of the
gay world in the media. Although undoubtedly there is
an underbelly to the gay world, it probably is in the
same proportion as the underbelly of the society as a
whole. But media has tendancy to play up only such
sensational cases and issues when it comes to the LGBT
community. This needs to be corrected. Majority of the
gays are NOT feminine, queens, out for sex all the
time, etc etc. They are otherwise absolutely normal,
executives, politicians, artiste's , even married men
and all like you and me. Ordinary. Living dual lives
probably.
Hence the protest is about HIGHLIGHTING the gay angle
that reinforces the false stereotyping.
Second, ofcourse there is a moral police! Mr.Dasgupta
may not feel the heat, being heterosexual, but gays
certaily feel suffocated, frustrated and choked at not
being able to express even in simple gestures their
love for a fellow friend.
Third, ofcourse any rich man or women picking up
disadvantageous persons for money is obnoxious. This
is to be condemned in no uncertain terms. But an
additional dimension to the gay life is that there is
no institution for them ( like marriage ) to satisfy
the basic human physiological want for sex. Hence this
needs to be understood in context.
A miniscule percent of restauranteurs are open to gay
evenings. And only in big cities. There is nothing
wrong in this.
But a very thought provoking article, one must admit.
Regards,
--- coffebeans2002 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> from rediff
>
> The problem is not homosexuality
>
> August 23, 2004
>
>
> The ability of small but resourceful interest groups
> to manipulate
> the media and public debate is among the less
> appetising features of
> a democracy. This month, the country, and Delhi in
> particular, has
> witnessed a determined effort by well-connected gay
> activists and
> rent-a-cause liberals to turn perversity into
> victimhood.
>
> In the backdrop of a grisly double-murder in a posh
> South Delhi
> colony, a campaign of intimidation has been mounted
> to force both
> the police and media into meekly acquiescing to
> bizarre notions of
> political correctness.
>
> At one level, the seemingly ritual killing of USAID
> worker Pushkin
> Chandra and his so-called 'companion' Kuldeep is a
> plain crime story
> that can, at best, arouse fleeting local interest.
> Yet, it was
> apparent from the outset that this was more than
> just another
> murder. The Pushkin story grabbed popular interest
> because of what
> it revealed about the seamy underside of what passes
> for alternative
> sexuality in Delhi.
>
> The issue was never the right of individuals to
> pursue their sexual
> preferences. Nor did it centre on the apparent
> violations of Section
> 377 of the Indian Penal Code which outlaws
> homosexuality.
>
> Despite this law, what people get up to in the
> privacy of the
> bedroom is of little interest to most people other
> than pseudo-
> sociologists and voyeurs. Contrary to what indignant
> activists would
> have us believe, there is neither a moral police in
> existence nor is
> society fundamentally intolerant of gays.
>
> There are enough openly gay couples who dot the
> society pages of our
> newspapers. They may be considered somewhat odd and,
> at times,
> bohemian, but we haven't heard of cases of
> gay-bashing. Indeed, so
> great is the lure of the Pink Rupee, that many
> restaurants and bars
> have begun to discreetly organise Gay Evenings for
> this neglected
> clientele. As such, the accusations of a witch-hunt
> of gays levelled
> by activists are somewhat far-fetched and
> self-serving.
>
> What the Pushkin case suggests, however, is that
> there is another
> dimension of gay life which is both sordid and
> verges on the
> criminal. There is nothing remotely normal about
> well-heeled gays
> routinely picking up young boys from deprived
> backgrounds for the
> purposes of sexual gratification.
>
> These are exploitative relationships that would be
> greeted with
> social disdain if it involved a man and a woman.
> What would our
> reaction be to a rich man who takes a vulnerable
> woman from a
> neighbouring slum as his occasional companion? We
> would perceive it
> as a crude power relationship based on lust. Is
> there any reason to
> view it differently just because it centres on two
> or more males?
> Nor is there any reason to put a stamp of approval
> on reckless
> promiscuity, just because it involves gays.
>
> Secondly, there is growing global concern over
> paedophilia and child
> pornography. Earlier this month, Tehelka conducted
> an investigation
> on a child pornography network that was being run by
> some Europeans
> in Goa. This is a problem that has assumed alarming
> proportions in
> popular tourist destinations like Kerala and Sri
> Lanka, not to speak
> of Thailand. Last week, London's Daily Telegraph
> revealed that
> street shelters for young boys in Mumbai run by a
> British charity
> had become centres of sexual abuse. It led to the
> actress Felicity
> Kendal withdrawing her patronage from the
> organisation.
>
> The Delhi police apparently found stacks of a
> particular variety of
> pornographic literature in Pushkin's flat. This in
> turn triggered
> inquiries over whether he was just a consumer of
> pornography or
> something more. In the West, people are routinely
> arrested for
> downloading child pornography from the internet. Why
> should the
> Delhi police be accused of harassing the entire gay
> community if it
> probes deeper into Pushkin's hidden fascinations, if
> only to
> understand the motives behind his murder?
>
> Finally, the Pushkin case has brought into the open
> a nexus between
> employees of international aid agencies and the gay
> underworld. Of
> particular concern to many is the possibility of the
> lavishly funded
> anti-AIDS campaign being misused to create a gay
> network. It would
> certainly seem that some of the do-gooder foreigners
> ostensibly
> involved in improving the plight of natives see
> India as just a
> convenient place to buy cheap sex with poor slum
> kids.
>
> The Pushkin case has served to open our eyes to a
> grim facet of gay
> life that many people don't want to acknowledge.
> Courtesy the steady
> degeneration of liberalism and the systematic
> assault on family
> values, ordinary, decent people are wary of speaking
> out against the
> perversions in the gay community lest it be
> construed as
> intolerance. They are further intimidated by the
> aggressive support
> extended to alternative lifestyles by the presiding
> deities of
> culture.
>
> So widespread is the new gay evangelism, that during
> the contrived
> controversy over Deepa Mehta's film Fire, there were
> loud claims of
> homosexuality and lesbianism being part of the
> Indian 'heritage,' a
> claim that angered many Hindu activists.
>
> It is not necessary to comment on every piece of
> fanciful theology
> or attempts to win fame through notoriety. Nor is it
> necessary to
> claim everything that has a history -- and there is
> no doubt that
> homosexuality and lesbianism had a shadowy presence
> over the ages --
> as heritage. Yet, that is precisely what is being
> done in the name
> of freedom and enlightenment.
>
> The problem is not homosexuality but our changing
> perceptions of it.
> What was hitherto a fringe tendency has been given
> an extraordinary
> licence. There is a growing climate of moral laxity
> that has led to
> countries like India becoming new receptacles for
> what can best be
> called criminal deviancy. Gay criminality isn't the
> whole problem
> but it is certainly part of the problem and the
> Pushkin murder was
> an example of that.
>
> It is a problem that should agitate society as a
> whole. And that
> includes gays who see their sexuality as a purely
> private
=== message truncated ===
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