Chennai gets first gay-club of India
Chennai: Gay men in Chennai have formed the first ever gay-club, which can be described as a bold step in the Indian society where homosexuals are shunned and homosexuality is a criminal offence.
The club under the name "Men Community Development Society (MCDS)" has been launched by the Indian Community Welfare Organisation, an anti-AIDS Non-Government Organisation, with the aim to rehabilitate homosexuals and to bring them into the mainstream.
The ICWO, which was formed in 1992, has been working with homosexuals for the last six years in its efforts to combat HIV/AIDS.
Gay relationships and behaviour are frowned upon in largely traditional India, where there is a secretive gay sub-culture in the big cities.
Jaya Lakshmi Sridhar, an activist and health adviser, who inaugurated the function, claimed that the organisation would help gay men cultivate community bonding that would benefit society at large.
The Society -- which has started off with 300 members and has identified more than 7,000 future members in the city -- will educate its members about sexually transmitted diseases, particularly HIV/AIDS.
It will address the issues concerning violation of the rights of homosexual men. It would also provide vocational training including management skills, administration, implementation and financial disbursements, to make them self-sufficient and help them to get into the mainstream society.
"This organisation would provide them a safe haven. They are prosecuted outside, they suffer police harassment, people don't employ them in good jobs, and they are marginalized. They have to sell their bodies for a living. In many ways this would offer them a safe haven, help them cultivate a feeling of self esteem, create greater community bonding when they would learn about HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections," Jaya said.
Besides, to address the common grievance of doctors treating homosexuals with disdain, the Society has its own doctor and clinic.
Sudha, a gay, who was initially hesitant to be a part of the society, said that now he was more confident in himself and was even aware of HIV/AIDS.
"At one time these people invited me to their office and told me that I could learn a lot of things here. I was firstly hesitant and was afraid to come here. I wondered why would someone run an office for people like me. Then again they invited me, I took a call and wanted to find out what they were doing. I came here and was astonished to find a lot of people with whom I can identify myself. Then I came to know about condoms and the truth about HIV/AIDS," Sudha said.
India's courts are reviewing laws that make consensual gay sex an offense punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
While there are only a few open homosexual communities in India, Mumbai and Bangalore enjoy reputations as more hospitable to gays and lesbians.
Activists have traditionally celebrated June as gay awareness month because of the Stonewall riots in New York that sparked the gay rights movement
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