Straight Talk on Gay Rights

1
The regression which we see today in society is
overwhelming and an issue of grave concern. The
hypocrisy is graver. On the one hand we are
legalizing live-in relations and on the other, we
are outlawing any other relationship. Let us not
go into the general arguments given to outlaw gay
relationship. They have been countered and proven
to be wrong, scientifically and psychologically,
all across the globe by some of the best minds of
our century. Gay is not queer, it is not induced
and it is not unnatural. Rather let us look at
the society in which we are today and try to
figure out as to what ails us. There was a
time when even the shadow of a lower caste, if it
fell on a higher caste, would result in mayhem.
Purification baths, merciless beating of the
lower caste and even throwing the poor chap with
his family out of the village were the norm. But
it was absolutely fine if the same higher caste
would have illicit relationship with as many
women of lower caste as possible.
Straight Talk on Gay Rights
2
Benegals film Ankur gives a peep into this
society of ours. Today the gay are untouchables
nay criminals. Hundreds of such incidents can be
googled where social, political and religious
leaders who were sworn enemies of gay sex, were
found to be gay. Every self-appointed,
self-righteous institution of our society has
several such people who indulge in gay bashing in
public even though they are gay themselves. We
see such double standard in every walk of Indian
society. In gay sex, it is inevitable because it
is also a crime. The numbers ascribed to the
LGBT population is definitely much larger than we
can even think of. The present agitators are the
pioneers. Once they are able to get legal
sanction and social acceptance then we will truly
come to know the enormity of the phenomenon. Till
then the stigma holds sway over several brilliant
people who are otherwise one of the finest
specimen of law abiding citizen of any country.
Some of the most brilliant minds in this world
were gay.
3
Even if for a moment we agree that being gay is
unnatural because it is not what God wanted
humans to be - a man and woman thing to give
birth by penetration. Then by that logic, a
misogynist who hates women is unnatural too and
should be put behind bar as a criminal. By the
same logic a misogamist who loves women but hates
marriage is not a criminal even if he has
relation with several and sires children from all
without marrying. After all it is natural. All
the laws which place restriction on the number of
wives one can have will be unnatural too. All sex
which is not intended to produce children becomes
unnatural too and a crime. On the other hand,
did God want humans to wage wars, rape and
plunder people, create mass destruction weapon
and destroy civilizations? If we have to really
settle this issue on an ethical and religious
ground, why force Gods rules of human conduct on
homosexuals only? Why not hang everyone who
flouts any of the Gods rules. How many religious
institutions which are dedicated only to God and
are run as per the edicts of God have thrown up
scandals of homo-sexuality?
4
What exemplary punishment was given to these
people for having unnatural sex? When people
trained and committed to the work of God indulge
in it, how can you expect normal lay man to put
his heart out for God? What kind of human
right are we giving to the people of this
country? All of us should be afraid of how our
right can be trampled with by keepers of this
nations moral and law. If today a person can be
told that he cannot have relationship with a
person of his own choice, it is like practically
forcing the person to have a relation with
someone in accordance with the State or Religion
or Societys choice. Will you accept your
communitys dictat to not marry the girl you love
because you are of the same gotra or will you
relent under the pressure of your family to marry
a girl whom you do not like? Now multiply this
pressure group by thousands and then round them
off with the legislature which gives stamp to
that dictat. You are most likely to feel
suffocated even while you are reading this! An
LGBT human being is facing much worse than that.
You are not only denying him freedom to choose
but also labeling him as a criminal who is forced
to live a life full of double standards and as a
fugitive.
5
Flexibility has never been our forte. The
generation before us is the same one which got
independence on a platter. So they neither have
the courage to start a revolution nor the
conviction to carry out things to their logical
conclusion. This geriatric crowd of decision
makers at all levels of every institution in this
country relies heavily on its own value system
which may be centuries old, passed on to him from
a very repressed upbringing and ignorance from
ages. No doubt we are prudes of the first order.
We all indulge in everything which is open,
liberal, unconventional and outright immoral in
private but in public we project a sickening
standard of virtuousness and morality. So even
while sending his own son abroad for higher
education, we can have a leader asking for Hindi
to be the language of the country. Preaching
celibacy and religious virtues to millions of
gullible Indians, a religious leader can indulge
in group sex, rape and gang-rape. Earning
thousands of crores of rupees as excise revenue
from liquor we can preach ad-nauseum about the
ill effect of drinking. Look around yourself and
you will drown into the kind of warped life all
of us in India are living.
6
Did we have a choice when we were kids to decide
if we were to be heterosexual or homosexual? If
yes, then exactly when did we decide that we
would be heterosexual? Do you have an answer for
it? If being straight was not by choice then why
do we think that being gay is by choice. Just
like straight people look for variety, younger
partners and different sexual experiments why
cannot one ascribe the same sexual leanings to
the gay persons? If law is in place to manage all
sexual abuse between straight partners, why
cannot it be the same for the gay partners too?
If the law is there to prevent the minors from
straight persons, why it should not be sufficient
to handle any kind of sex between a gay person
and a minor? before this bench.The Section
377 was scrapped by the High Court. It was
restored by the Supreme Court. Agreed that this
is the way courts function. But one hypothetical
question, if the same judge who gave the verdict
in the High court was elevated to the Supreme
Court and he would have been in the SC bench
deciding on Section 377, then what decision would
he have taken?
7
Judgments are very subjective largely depending
on the judge who is making them. In fact a good
lawyer is considered to be one who can get his
case listed in a specific court because the
judge's psychological makeup may help in deciding
the case favorably. It was unfortunate that this
case came up before this bench. Finally, the
gay should thank their stars. The cultural police
are behind the lives of straight couples in
todays times. Every year they are hounded on
14th February. The words of the films are beeped
irrespective of whether they are vulgar or not et
al. The gay community should be happy with the
thought that regression is not limited to only
them. We straights are all going back to the
shell where we belonged centuries ago. In the
film Demolition Man, Sylvester Stallone goes in
to future as a police officer and has sex with
Sandra Bullock through a simulator. No one even
touches the other. Perhaps in such a future, all
the hullabaloo over straight and gay will be
sorted out.