Sitting here in the US, I can see
how excited people are about the landmark judgement of allowing the LGBT
community to enter into a civil union. Last night there were fireworks in the
LGBT colors at a park nearby. The colors reminds me of the Facebook display
pictures of people back in India that are flooding my timeline. As heartening
as it is to see people back home celebrating this judgement, I also feel
something amiss. An opportunity to look cool is never something we will let
slip. And if it garners you likes on Facebook or getting retweeted on twitter,
why not? After all US is the gold standard for human rights amongst other
things.
In India, the contempt or
disregard for homosexuals was given life by our society and how it portrays
these individuals. Our most staple ‘source of information’, Bollywood or Indian
Cinema, has had a long standing role to play in creating such an image. For
long the movies have portrayed these individuals as effeminate, sexually
promiscuous and invariably having a floppy wrist. We laugh our asses off, and
bring those assumptions to our everyday lives. So we are okay to ridicule them,
but we won’t witness their humane sides. And it just not only about the gay
community, but about transgender too. They have been ostracized and ridiculed
in equal measure. So to the less-informed-social-media-addict Indian, here is a
poser. Do you even know what the T in LGBT stands for?
Transgender. And that is exactly
where my problem is. So while we are celebrating a law in the US, do we even a
proper word to address the transgenders back home? We call them ‘Chakkas’, all
because their genitalia didn’t turn out in a way god intended. How many of you
even know that the Indian Supreme Court, in April 2014 recognized the transgender people
as a 'third gender'
in law. Now where was the support or euphoria, when this landmark judgement was
made? Did we go around showing solidarity to the Hijras? Did we change our DPs
to reflect that? No we didn’t because, Hijras aren’t as good looking as Matt
Bomer or Luke Evans. Because Bollywood celebrities dint tweet about it or
newspapers didn’t carry a column on “what the western media thinks of hijra
community”? Because Hijras don’t have an Icon. They don’t have anyone who could
champion their cause. They are just a footnote in the LGBT community.
I also saw people deriding the
Indian system for not having a similar judgement to that in the US. First of
all, we don’t even accept Transgenders as part of our society yet, in spite of
a law in place. What is the guarantee that the Gay community will be allowed a
place under the sun if their civil union is allowed? So unless we change our
mindset about each letter in LGBT, we simply don’t have the right to celebrate
the colors. We may, but we shouldn’t. Let me tell you, some of US laws are
archaic and draconian too. Not so hunky dory now, is it?
And it is just not the US that we
are fascinated with. We are in general fascinated with what the West does.
Because if you are aware of what is happening in the west and not know what is
happening in your own, you are perceived as cool.
Remember Je Suis Charlie? How many of
you know that 2 journalists were burnt alive in the last month and went
completely un-noticed. Ice bucket Challenge was another. We went gaga over
Malala Yousafzai’s so-called crusade on girl’s education, where she
involuntarily took a bullet. But we didn’t know about a man who championed the
same cause for years, and didn’t reward him until the foreign media did or the
Norwegian Nobel Committee. Kailash Satyarthi.
We try to mimic everything the
west does, but when they comment on the decadence in our society, we are up in
arms and attack their culture and upbringing. Stop following the mad herd and
look at the big picture. Everyone deserves a place under the sun. Not just Gay
and Lesbians.
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