The other day, a small headline on the front page of the newspaper made me feel sad. It was: ‘Two lesbian girls attempt suicide due to parental pressure’. What to say now? Those two girls, the report said, were bright girls in their academics and sports and were destined to succeed in their life. The only thing, which was a ‘mistake’ in terms of all other people, was that both the girls loved each other immensely. So what? What’s wrong if love sparks between two girls or two boys? Is it a mistake which they made? Why to simply term them ‘abnormal’ and pressurize them?
And this is the politics which is going on in a country like ours which took an oath for democracy 68 years back. Yes, I term this as politics…politics of sexuality! Indeed, it is. Love is a beautiful thing which can happen to humans. It can be very natural and can happen between opposite or same sex. Why to make an issue about it when it happens between the same genders?
The real culprit behind all this is the age old archaic law in our legal books. India Penal Code’s Section 377 states that carnal intercourse against the law of nature is an offense and if found guilty, one can get a rigorous punishment up to 10 years. Isn’t this some kind of a draconian law? My question is how come one term love or relation between same sexes as unnatural.
The WHO has removed homosexuality from its list of psychological disorders. Yet, some people would like to believe otherwise. They would say that if everyone were gay, there would be no society. This is a dishonest argument for the simple reason that everyone is not gay. They say it's against the Bible - an abomination of God.
But if Christians can change their views on the issues of divorce, women's rights and slavery, why not on the issue of homosexuality as well? Then there are those in India who claim that homosexuality is against Indian culture and Hinduism. Have they never been to the Khajuraho temples, embellished with homoerotic art? Do they not know that the Kamasutra is not just about straight sex? Do they not know that there is not a single scriptural missive against homosexuality in the Vedas - the ultimate authority of Hinduism?
I believe that there are innumerable such teens who are homosexuals and still in closet. Parental and societal pressure encapsulates their environment, making them extremely uneasy and uncomfortable to take a breath in the society. People pass lewd remarks and this can make any one feel deprived and lost. And the worst consequence of it is the increasing number of suicidal cases amongst the homosexual community.
Recent medical evidences have proved that one’s sexual orientation is a result of one’s genes. There are, no doubt, some cases wherein homosexual preference can be generated due to some early sexual encounters or uncomfortable and indecent family upbringing or even child abuse. But then there is no reason at all to blame the homosexuals for the sexual preference. It is not that they deliberately forced themselves to have such a preference.
It’s definitely the time now to reconsider the law. And even if the law is changed and decriminalizes homosexuals, the thing which needs to change is the mentality of people towards such individuals. Let them live their life in the way they want. Only then will the concerned cases of HIV/AIDS and suicides in such individuals lessen. I truly believe that this politics against homosexuality should be stopped and we adopt a policy of ‘Live and Let Live’.
