What makes a person feel comfortable and safe? What normalizes the life of an individual? The answer would be a comfortable atmosphere where people take cognizance of each other and most importantly when everyone has their basic fundamental rights. But how can this atmosphere be created? Only when society stops censuring every little gesture or act of affection, when we can hold hands fearlessly with anyone in public without it becoming the talk of the day, when we can have a casual conversation with anyone without it turning into a scandal, only when a person is free to live life the way one wants to without being persecuted for it. It is these small things that make a person feel human.
People from the LGBTQIA+ community face countless daily struggles that cisgender men or women do not have to, and thus, do not always understand. Every big or small lifestyle choice opted by people of the community, especially when any decision is perceived or deemed to be unnatural by heteronormative society, is judged and even criticised in a manner that at times also leads to cases of brutality. This is the background of their lives in societies like ours, where prejudices and phobias related to the community are deeply entrenched and where bigotry claims many lives every year. Quite a few activists from the community, through pride marches and awareness campaigns, are actively trying to combat and defy society's irrational phobias.
At the local level, there are innumerable cases reflecting the decrees of prejudices describing LGBTQ scribbled Graffiti. In the pandemic, I have observed this in my own surroundings. Whenever anyone visibly deviating from gender or sexuality norms approved by society passes down the street, there are people sniggering at them from behind, treating them like aliens. This example sufficiently explains the mentality of the people in the area. This kind of social conditioning can also, in a major way, be attributed to Bollywood movies. In a country where Bollywood has a colossal influence on the youth, a fallacious depiction or the lack of representation of the LGBTQIA+ community in films is quite harmful. Not only is there an absence of people from the community in the film industry, but most of the mainstream actors are also hesitant to play homosexual, bisexual or transgender characters in movies. Even now, in many movies humour is generated at the expense of the LGBTQIA+ community, but fortunately movies like ‘Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan’ in the recent past have worked on creating a more positive image for the community, especially in small town India.
Suicide attempts by people from the LGBTQ+ community is a deplorable situation. LGBT youth records the highest rate of suicide attempts. The daily struggles of dealing with homophobic attitudes of people, violence, shaming and scorn often lead to depression. That's the reason why drug use among LGBT people has rapidly increased after the implementation of discriminatory laws against them. LGBTQ+ people are proud to be who they are and no one should make them feel ashamed for that. A very famous example of this is of Marsha P. Johnson who was a gay rights activist. Her work hugely impacted LGBTQ+ rights. Her death has been a mystery. Her body was pulled out of a river. The police announced her death as a suicide, but her friends, family and members of the local community insisted on it being the contrary.
Globally, most of the societal reforms focus on only two genders and heterosexual relationships but there are people who don't fit into these binaries or norms. Religion also plays an important role in influencing homophobic beliefs. What is often alleged is that homosexuality is against Hinduism. However this majoritarian religion in India, also proclaims 'Vikriti Evam Prakriti' in one of the four sacred texts of Rigveda, meaning 'what seems unnatural is also natural'. Thus it can be clearly perceived that in Hinduism, homosexuality was not offensive but a part of the diversity of our society. But now what is being done in the name of Hinduism is nothing but rankism.
Same-sex marriages are still not authorised in India. The question arises, that despite the presence of Article 15 in the Indian Constitution which prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth, why are the rights of LGBTQIA+ to choose who to love snatched away from them? No one has the right to decide who to marry or love! And... love is love, irrespective of the gender or sexuality. After all, gender is a social construct. Gender does not determine our capability of doing something.
There has been a significant drop in suicide rates amongst people of the community specifically at places where same sex marriage has been legalised.
Despite being a democratic republic there are no laws in India for the protection of the LGBTQ community. India lacks a comprehensive anti-discrimination code.
The picture in the left depicts the marriage between Siddhartha Verma and Ayaan Syed both of whom wanted to get married in India, but had to marry abroad because gay marriages are still considered illegal in our country. Additionally, in the absence of any legal provisions or the right to buy property or adopt a child, they decided to move out of India, and settle abroad. In this photo of Ayaan & Siddharta, is there any sign of incompetency? In my view, they are as capable of bringing goodness to one's life as anyone else is.
In conclusion, the lack of LGBT laws in the Indian constitution, in some ways perhaps questions the legitimacy of the Indian constitution. Is it in tandem with the needs of the modern era? Or Is it still clinging to the values of the past and resorting to ideas inherited from colonial rule?
Some LGBTQIA+ persons are glad about the fact that they are not in Uganda and if they are, their lives are worse than in India. They face major discrimination not only from the heteronormative society but from political leaders as well. Violence against them is common, and many times it is executed by state officials. There is no recognition of same-sex unions, they do not have legal protection. The penalty of not following these rules can go up to life imprisonment.
I think that there shouldn't be any questions about whether homosexuality should be legal or illegal. LGBTQIA+ do not want anyone to harbour any animosity towards them, but to accept them as who they are; they have the right to live and the freedom to express themselves in whichever ways they please as much as anybody else. They just want basic human rights and these rights cannot just be won in a courtroom. These rights will be of value only when society begins to accept and respect them. So let's enjoy the diversity of our society and not limit ourselves to biased ideas by blindly following whatever others are practicing. This is the time to wait and ponder on issues ourselves.
