.
Rediff
Newspaper Review by:
bongi999
-
Summary rating: 5 stars
(11 Ratings)
-
Visits : 1083
-
words:600
-
Comments
:
0
Is India opening up to homosexuality as a lifestyle?
A lot has been spoken about homosexuality in the current
months what with same-sex marriages been legalised in countries such as Canada and Spain and civil unions of gays been legalised in U.K. But India still recognises homosexuality as a crime as it is an " unnatural sex act". The sentiment of resentment for gays and lesbians was well witnessed in the open hatred towards the movie " Fire". But Bollywood movies have definitely come of age in recent times with a lot of movies having gay themes and undertones like " Kal Ho Na Ho" , " My Brother Nikhil" ,"Page 3", "Bombay Boys".Also a lot of sitcoms on the Indian television are opening up to inculcate gay characters in their script . Take for instance the serial "Jassi jaisi koi nahin" which had the charcter of"Maddy" . But even if the Indian audiences are gradually warming up to the idea of seeing gay characters on the screen, wil even a fraction of that warmth be present when they have to accept gays living in their neighbourhood? And the answer my friends, undoubtedly, is a resounding but a firm "no". In cosmopolitan cities, there are a lot of clubs, parties and events that bring the homosexual population to a common ground. In Mumbai , for instance, there is a website that holds parties and brunches every other week to bring the gay popultaion together to give them a common platform to vent their opinions and interact with each other. This not only gives them a sense and feeling of belonging to a community but also of being inspired by other guys who have overcome their fears and living on their own terms. On the other hand, there are other chatting sites , which form the basis of public's loathing towards the gay population and regarding them as just " sex-crazy". Also the case of the IAS Officer in Delhi who was working with UNDP, which graphically described the lifestyle that the rich and affluent homosexuals enjoy further corroborate the fact. But is this any different from the straight populatioon? Even the rich and the famous in the bigger metros indulge in a lot of fun and frolic. So why single out the homosexuals? Then , of course, there is the category of MSM(Men who have sex with Men). Recent surveys show this category, which includes men who indulge in sex with other men but do not regard themselves as gay, is quite a huge number in India. The problem with this sector is that the instances of unprotective sex and therefore the risk of transmission of STDs and HIV are much larger here.
So , in conclusion, India has still a long way to go and many social hurdles to cross before it embibes homosexuality as a lifestyle decision.
Published: December 31, 2005