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While the homosexual movement in the
West is clamouring for attention, activists in India feel that too much hype
has queered the pitch for those who want to come out in the open.
"People in different parts of India hold
different views on homosexuality as the movement is still developing here.
However gays are definitely not welcome when it comes to marriage and they
also face discrimination in other spheres of life - be it employment or
relationships. Personally I didn't have any such problem because my parents
were very supportive...I could confide in them. They are wonderful human
beings who are above issues like sexuality.
"Indians have made such a hue and
cry about the subject that it has become more difficult for gays to come
out of the closet. In fact it has even become difficult for gays to admit
their sexuality to themselves! I also took a lot of time to come terms with
the fact that I am gay. I went to doctors to seek medical treatment because
it was hard for me to believe that I wasn't normal, that is to say,
heterosexual. But then it isn't possible to hide the truth, especially from
yourself. I accepted my sexuality when I was 20-21. Now, I am 58-years-old
and a lot of water has flown under the bridge," admits Ashok Row Kavi,
one of India's
foremost gay activist and chairperson of the Mumbai-based Humsafar Trust.
Anjali Gopalan, Chairperson of Naz
Foundation, squarely blames an ill-informed media for blowing things out of
proportion. According to her: "Indians have a mixed reaction to gays.
While some want them imprisoned, others extend their support. But if you
see the larger picture, then it's evident that gays are discriminated
against and not considered part of so-called society. I feel much of the
negativity is due to media hype. The media is guilty of sensationalising a
very sensitive subject; so much so that many will now never admit that they
are gay! People don't understand that homosexuality is not a recent
phenomenon in India.
It's been part of our culture since ancient times and Indians became
prudish in their views only much later. People feel scared of gays without
knowing what they go through, what's happening to them and why they need
us. Media makes it harder by showing gays as a flamboyant community. Most
don't fit the bill and try to hide their sexuality fearing societal
backlash."
For gays, coming to terms with their
true identity is a torturous process, insists Gopalan. "Most
homosexuals go through phases. The message around them is that
'heterosexuality is normal'. Therefore it becomes difficult for them to
accept that they are different. They are compelled to believe that they
should not be different. They also fear discrimination that is evident at
every step - at job interviews, among friends, and so on. There's a certain
desperation not to be marginalised by the peer group," she says.
Although being a gay in India may
be tough, it's far tougher being a lesbian, agree both Kavi and Gopalan.
"Women always feel the sharper end
of the stick. There's much more negativity towards them as compared to
gays. As it is, female sexuality is never discussed in the open, and when a
woman shows a preference for her own sex, it's bound to create chaos,"
says Gopalan.
Kavi echoes her views. "We live in
a male-dominated society that finds it difficult to tolerate a woman who
asserts her sexuality. Gays are discriminated against but not as much as
lesbians," he says.
According to Gopalan, it's time Indians
showed a little more maturity in dealing with the gay community. "Not
accepting someone's sexuality is a violation of the person's fundamental
rights. If the law allows people to drive at the age of 18, and girls to
get married, then why should Indians not have the same freedom when it
comes to choosing their partners?"
India Today: Not happy and gay
Shagun Dayal
New Delhi, June 29, 2005
The wheel of time spins at a laggard
pace. Decades back when acclaimed Urdu writer Ismat Chugtai penned Lihaf
(The Quilt), she ruffled many feathers and her work was immediately labeled
as 'feminist postcolonial canon'. The protagonists, a gay Nawab Sahib and
his neglected wife Begum Jan, who finds solace in lesbianism, caused a
furore in 1941 and subsequently the short story was banned on charges of
obscenity.
Today as the whole world celebrates 35
years of years of gay pride, there's been no paradigm shift in how Indians
view alternate sexuality. Gays in this country still haven't been able to
carve a place for themselves in an overwhelmingly straight world.
Convenient clichés abound - homosexuals
are by turns labeled 'perverts', 'social misfits' or 'twisted
personalities'. A family in India
acts within the larger context of socio-cultural norms and it is the family
that decides what is acceptable and what is not. Thus if a child drifts
outside the accepted sexual contours, the family is the first to react.
"Repercussions within the family
are worst. Parents would much rather confine a child with homosexual
tendencies to the closet than allow him or her to develop naturally. The
child is also made to do the rounds of psychologists and counsellors to
look for a possible 'cure'," says Priyanka Gupta, who works with a
NGO. "They try to suppress the feeling of 'otherness'. As a result the
child either goes into a depressive state of mind or ends up as a
rebel," she adds.
A postgraduate hosteller in Delhi who
doesn't wish to be named, feels that his sexual preferences certainly gets
him 'queer glances', but what matters to him is that he manages to touch
the 'fluid boundaries of his sexual identity'. "It's not about whom I
bed, but how I choose to live my life", he insists. According to him,
anybody who is not blatantly heterosexual is viewed with deep suspicion
after the murder of USAID worker Pushkin Chandra in a posh Delhi locality, allegedly by his male
sexual partners. Although he is wary of showing affection for his partner
in public, the two of them have still been at the receiving end of lewd
comments and cruel jibes.
Let alone the common man in India, even
the law of the land seems excessively harsh on gays. Section 377 of the
Indian Penal Code makes it criminal for two people of the same sex to love
each other by sharing physical intimacy. A portion of Section 377 defines
unnatural offences' as 'whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against
the order of nature with any man, woman or animal shall be punished with
imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend up to 10
years and shall be liable to be fined'. The term 'unnatural offences' has
been interpreted to include sodomy and oral sex.
While homosexual men are perfectly
capable of sharing a platonic relationship with their female friends, it's
assumed that their sexual preference makes them women-haters. The community
also takes offence that they are often projected as effeminate and sissy in
popular media.
"Jennifer Anniston had a wonderful
equation with her gay friend Paul Rudd in The Object Of My Affection. His
sexual orientation does not undermine their strong amity and they never
cease to harbor love and respect for each other," says Niharika, a software
engineer whose closest male friend is homosexual.
The message is clear - what the gay
community in India
wants is not a societal upheaval, but the chance to lead a normal, happy
life without the need to parade for their rights every year.
THE INDIAN PENAL
CODE – Chap. XVI, Sec. 377
"Unnatural offences 377. Whoever
voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any
man, woman or animal, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with
imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten
years, and shall also be liable to fine.
Explanation: Penetration is sufficient to constitute
the carnal intercourse necessary to the offence described in this
section."
Comment: This section is intended to punish the
offence of sodomy, buggery and bestiality. The offence consists in a carnal
knowledge committed against the order of nature by a person with a man, or
in the same unnatural manner with a woman, or by a man or woman in any
manner with an animal.
Cases and
Sentence:
In a recent case where a highly educated person committed this offence, the
Supreme Court having regard to his loss of service and other consequences
to his career following the offence let him off with a sentence of two
months' imprisonment. In yet another case the Supreme Court reduced the
sentence of the accused to six months' imprisonment as the accused while
committing sodomy did not use force on the boy. In a case of Himachal Pradesh
where a truck driver twice committed sodomy on a boy in his truck, a
sentence of one year's imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 500.00 were imposed
on the accused.
It thus appears that unlike rape the actual sentence imposed under this
section is not usually heavy."
("Situation of Homosexuals in
India" - report for
the Swedish Embassy by a Delhi
law firm - Swedish Foreign Office/RFSL survey)
This Section is held to prohibit oral
intercourse as well. (PB)
Section 294 of the Penal Code, which
penalizes any kind of "obscene behaviour in public", is also used
against gay men. (Spartacus)
In 1995 the organization AIDS Bedbhav
Virodhi Andolan has filed a petition with the Delhi High Court challenging
the constitutionality of Penal Code Section 377. A final hearing is
expected during 1998. (CSSSM 20/1/98)
"Section 377 of the Indian Penal
Code criminalises male to male sex with up to 10 years imprisonment. One of
the consequences of this is to make it very difficult for males who have
sex with males to access sexual health services because their behaviour is
against the law and through this accessing makes them visible. It further
makes the availability of sexual health services for prisoners difficult.
The second issue, and related to the first, is the high level of reported
harassment and violence directed towards males who have sex with males both
by police and members of the general public. Very often there will be a
demand for sex and/or money. Reporting of these incidents is obviated by
Section 377, and further compounded by the unsympathetic and sometimes
violent attitudes of the police." (Sexual health workshops in Bangladesh and India for males who have sex
with males)
Is comprehensive
legal recognition of partnerships available?
26-Jun-96: "Members of the Indian
lesbian collective Stree Sangam recently made a presentation on
domestic-partnership laws to a government conference on marriage and family
law. It was "perhaps the first time that a lesbian/gay group
[attempted] to create public opinion on the issues in such a forum,"
the group said in a letter to the gay magazine Trikone." (RW/ 2349)
(Information courtesy: The International
Lesbian And Gay Association)
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