Indian and gay
“Homosexuality is not natural.” It’s a very hazy memory from a decade ago. But I recollect it was on my way to my undergraduate class when I casually said these words. The metro drill pulled in and my friend and I stepped into the compartment as if nothing out of the common was said. We went to the class on medieval history, ate something fairly unhealthy in the college cafe afterwards as part of our daily routine, and went back to our hostel. An overall unremarkable day, right?
Ten years later, this episode makes me recoil, partly with shame over my own ignorance, and partly with horror at having said these words myself, considering how ‘woke’ I’ve believed I always include been. In proof, I said it again to a good confidant a few months later in a post-class discussion. This time, I added an “Eww” and a “I abhor homosexuals”. She (let’s call her G)—I didn’t know it then—was struggling to come out support then. Years later, G told me that these very words—said and then repeated on another occasion—had stopped her from coming out for a very long time, even to herself. Up until last year, when the Indian government finally decriminalised gay sex and set the LGB
Two-Spirit
Though Two-Spirit may now be included in the umbrella of LGBTQI+, The term "Two-Spirit" does not simply mean someone who is a Native American/Alaska Native and gay.
Traditionally, Native American Two-Spirit people were male, female, and sometimes intersexed individuals who combined activities of both men and women with traits unique to their status as Two-Spirit people. In most tribes, they were considered neither men nor women; they occupied a distinct, alternative gender status. In tribes where Two-Spirit males and females were referred to with the same designation, this status amounted to a third gender. In other cases, Two-Spirit females were referred to with a distinct term and, therefore, constituted a fourth gender. Although there were important variations in Two-Spirit roles across North America, they shared some usual traits:
- Specialized work roles. Male and female Two-Spirit people were typically described in terms of their preference for and achievements in the work of the "opposite" sex or in activities specific to their role. Two-Spirit individuals were experts in traditional arts - such as pottery making, basket weaving, and the ma
The Slow Evolution of Same-sex attracted Culture in India
Societal ethics, the caste system, arranged marriages, the high probability of being disinherited for coming out — in India, everything runs counter to gay liberation.
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I am at the Marriott on Beach in Mumbai, India. Bobby, a gaybombay.org activist (I know only his first name), has invited me to a gay soirée in one of the private clubs: the basement of a huge palace. It is almost midnight, and I find myself in the sort of extravagant and grandiose party Indians specialize in. India is not a “cool” country; it is a “hot” country (as the writer Salman Rushdie puts it). Young women are wrapped in improbable dresses with large multicolored scarves; young men wear turbans or chic HSBC bank officer’s suits. There are huge cakes with whipped cream, served at will, and everyone seems to flirt and kiss each other. The proportion of gays seems significant, but the place is mixed, open, always discreet, and codes are respected, for good measure. “Here it is not a soirée, it’s a partyyyy” Bandana Tewari tells me, underlining the y. She is the flamboyant head of t
My journey of self-exploration began in 2012, when I was 14 years vintage. It was a time just after I’d experienced highest discrimination in educational facility for being male lover. I was start to understand and dive deeper into my queerness in India, a region where LGBTQ people do not possess the same rights as straight people. As I looked for safe spaces to explore my identity, I stumbled upon one I found surprising advocate then: a neighbourhood public park.
A confidant who I’d met through PlanetRomeo – one of the earliest queer matchmaking app platforms – told me about a park in my city in the central Indian articulate of Madhya Pradesh, which doubled up as a same-sex attracted hotspot. Out of curiosity, I initiate my way to the said park, which was just an enclosed patch of unkempt grass next to a noisy road. I first watched from a distance how around sundown, a group of a dozen or so men I’d later call “queens,” would gather. As I gathered confidence to approach them over the next not many days, I realised that this is where they’d connect to offload their daily stress, speak about their lives, or just meet up.
For a teenager who’d recently consideration that no one would ever know him, this is where I first sought solace. I made friends