Meet the world's first openly gay prce Manvendra Sgh Gohil • GCN

Contents:

• INDIA'S FIRST OPENLY GAY PRCE ENDURED YEARS OF TORTURO NVERSN THERAPY. NOW, HE'S FIGHTG TO MAKE THE PRACTICE ILLEGAL.
• INDIA'S FIRST OPENLY GAY PRCE HAS AN IMPORTANT MSAGE ABOUT HOMOSEXUALY
• INDIA’S FIRST GAY PRCE: PRCE MANVENDRA SGH GOHILIN THE LAST , PRCE MANVENDRA SGH GOHIL GOT MARRIED, GOT DIVORCED, ME OUT OF THE CLOSET, AND TALKED TO OPRAH WEY—AND NOW, HE'S SPREADG AWARENS ABOUT A SPREADG HIV CRISIS INDIA.ROJA HEYDARPOURUPDATED JUL. 13, 2017 5:46PM EDT / PUBLISHED MAY 21, 2011 3:58AM EDT PRCE MANVENDRA SGH GOHIL PREPAR FOR AIDES GALA DNER ON NOVEMBER 27, 2010 PARIS, FRANCE. (PASL LE SEGRETA / AIDES & LK / GETTY IMAG)PRCE MANVENDRA SGH GOHIL, THE FIRST OPENLY GAY PRCE INDIA, TOOK TO A MAKHIFT STAGE A SWANKY INDIAN RTRANT NEW YORK LAST WEEK. CLUTCHG THE MICROPHONE WH TWO HANDS, HE ULD HARDLY BE HEARD OVER THE D OF GUTS ON THEIR FOURTH ROUND OF EE ABSOLUT.“AS WE SAY INDIA, NAMASTE,” HE SED.“YEEAAA! NAMAS-TAY,” SCREAMED A WOMAN, SWAYG OM SI TO SI. THE SOFT-SPOKEN PRCE OF RAIPLA TOOK ALL STRI, SEEMG TO ENJOY HIMSELF—AND EVEN VG EVERYONE THE ROOM TO HIS PK PALACE. “IT IS LIKE A STRAWBERRY SHORTKE WH ICG. AND YOU ARE ALL WELE. I MEAN . YOU N E SEE ROYALTY.” THE CROWD HAD GATHERED TO RAISE MONEY FOR THE PRCE’S CHARY, THE LAKSHYA TST, AN ANIZATN FOUND BY FIVE MEN RAL INDIA DITED TO RAISG AWARENS OF HIV/AIDS. THE DISEASE IS SPREADG QUICKLY INDIA—2.4 LN PEOPLE ARE LIVG WH HIV THERE, ACRDG TO THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATN. THE GUTS—MOSTLY INDIAN, GAY, OR GAY INDIANS—MGLED NERVOLY AT AS THE EVENG BEGAN. A PROTOL SHEET ON HOW TO TREAT A PRCE WAS PASSED AROUND.“ONE SHOULD WA FOR THE PRCE TO EXTEND HIS HAND, BEFORE YOU GO TO SHAKE .”“DO NOT TURN YOUR BACK ON HIM AS HE MOV ON.”BY THE END OF THE NIGHT, GUTS WERE JOKG EELY ABOUT HOW THEY WOULD TREAT THE PRCE.SEQUTERED A DIMLY L RNER THE BACK, THE PRCE SAW PEOPLE 10-MUTE TERVALS, EELY DISCSG HIS SEXUALY AND THE AIDS CRISIS INDIA.“I AM STILL SGLE AND NEED TO MGLE.”“IN INDIA, HIV HAS BEEN A BLSG DISGUISE,” HE SAID. “HIV GAVE A PLATFORM TO EMPOWER OURSELV. A LOT OF MY IENDS ARE GETTG FECTED.”GOHIL, 45, FIRST ME OUT TO HIS FAY 2002, AFTER A NERVO BREAKDOWN. HE ULDN’T HI HIS SEXUALY ANYMORE AT THAT POT. HE HAD BEEN MARRIED TO A WOMAN 1991, BUT ONLY A YEAR LATER, WHOUT EVER HAVG NSUMMATED THE MARRIAGE, HE GOT A DIVORCE. HE STILL LIV WH THE GUILT OF HURTG HIS WIFE. BY 2006, HE OFFICIALLY ME OUT WHEN HE GAVE AN TERVIEW TO A LOL PAPER. RELATNS WH HIS FAY BEME STRAED, AND HAVE YET TO BE FULLY REPAIRED. SCE THEN, HE HAS TAKEN HIS STORY ALL OVER THE WORLD, EVEN APPEARG ON OPRAH TWICE.BUT JT LAST WEEK, AS GOHIL ARRIVED NEW YORK TO RAISE AWARENS, AND DISCS HOW DIFFICULT AND TABOO HOMOSEXUALY IS INDIA, TWO AMERINS THE PUBLIC EYE ED A STIR WHEN THEY ME OUT. FIRST THERE WAS THE PRINT OF THE PHOENIX SUNS, WHO ME OUT AN TERVIEW WH THE NEW YORK TIM. THEN, DON LEMON, THE CNN ANCHOR, TOLD THE WORLD HE WAS GAY ON TWTER.THE PRCE DIDN’T SEEM TOO SURPRISED THAT HOMOSEXUALY WAS STILL SOMEWHAT OF AN ISSUE THE STAT. “RELIGN HAS PLAYED A ROLE MANY ISSU, AND ALSO HOMOSEXUALY, SO EVEN AMERI HASN’T BEEN SPARED OM THAT,” HE SAID. “I THK ’S IMPORTANT FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE KNOWN TO E OUT OF THE CLOSET.”THAT SAID, THE PRCE HAS A LONG WAY TO GO. BEG RAISED A SOCIETY—AND A FAY—WHERE HOMOSEXUALY WAS NOT EVEN AN OPTN SEEMS TO HAVE HAD S EFFECT ON HIM. NEARLY 10 YEARS AFTER G OUT TO HIS FAY, THE PRCE STILL DON’T HAVE A PARTNER. AND THE NIGHTLIFE ISN’T FOR HIM. “I’M NOT ED TO THE PARTY CULTURE BEE I E OM A ROYAL FAY.” HE VISED A GAY BAR WHILE AMERI, BUT DIDN’T EXACTLY BLEND . “I DON’T FEEL VERY FORTABLE THE GAY BARS,” HE SAID. “I AM ALWAYS FORMAL ATTIRE.”STILL, THE LIFE ISN’T PLETELY FOREIGN TO HIM. WHEN ASKED IF HE WAS STILL SGLE, HE SED ALMOST MISCHIEVOLY. “I AM STILL SGLE AND NEED TO MGLE.”ROJA HEYDARPOUR IS AN EDOR AT THE DAILY BEAST. SHE HAS REPORTED FOR THE THE NEW YORK TIM AND THE TIM-TRIBUNE. ROJA HEYDARPOUR
• MEET THE WORLD'S FIRST OPENLY GAY PRCE MANVENDRA SGH GOHIL

INDIA'S FIRST OPENLY GAY PRCE ENDURED YEARS OF TORTURO NVERSN THERAPY. NOW, HE'S FIGHTG TO MAKE THE PRACTICE ILLEGAL.

In 2006, Prce Manvendra Sgh Gohil me out to a lol newspaper, beg India's first openly gay prce. Prce Manvendra Sgh Gohil, the 39th direct scendant of India's Gohil Raut dynasty, knew he was gay at age 12. But he uld only live his tth three s publicly me out an terview to a lol newspaper 2006, beg the first openly gay royal the untry.

He was 41 at the 2018, homosexualy was illegal India, punishable unr Sectn 377, a lonial-era dranian law that mand up to life imprisonment for anyone mtg sexual acts "agast the orr of nature. He turned the palace grounds he was once thrown out of to a shelter for the LGBTQ+ had expected the homophobic uproar.

The society he grew up around was strongly nserative, and the untry he grew up didn't legally regnize gay rights.

INDIA'S FIRST OPENLY GAY PRCE HAS AN IMPORTANT MSAGE ABOUT HOMOSEXUALY

Many around him believed that homosexualy was a mental disorr. Much of his advocy for LGBTQ+ rights ntu to primarily revolve around cimatg the stigma around homosexualy. In 2018, the year that the Supreme Court crimalized homosexualy a landmark lg, Gohil opened up a 15-acre palace grounds to build a shelter for vulnerable members of the muny.

"They thought was impossible that I uld be gay bee my cultural upbrgg had been so rich. 5 thgs to know about Prce Manvendra, India’s first openly gay royal. His mother publicly disowned him by placg an advert the lol paper, and took almost a for them to rencile, a natn where LGBTQ+ activists only recently prevailed havg gay sex crimalised Published: 4:00pm, 10 Mar, 2020 Updated: 4:00pm, 10 Mar, 2020 Manvendra Sgh Gohil (left) and De DeAndre Richardson, photographed durg the Hong Kong Pri Para 2018, at Victoria Park, Cseway Bay.

Gettyimag-488130519Manvendra Sgh Gohli is famo for beg the first gay Indian prce to e out publicly. In a new vio ma by onle LGBT rights platform Come Out Loud, Sgh ndidly speaks about gay rights and the challeng of g also: India's Supreme Court agre to start bate on crimalisg homosexualy unr Sectn 377Sgh, who was the crown prce of the royal fay of Raipla, was disowned and dishered by his parents after he me out 2006, a cisn he attribut to prsur om the nservative social environment they lived .

INDIA’S FIRST GAY PRCE: PRCE MANVENDRA SGH GOHILIN THE LAST , PRCE MANVENDRA SGH GOHIL GOT MARRIED, GOT DIVORCED, ME OUT OF THE CLOSET, AND TALKED TO OPRAH WEY—AND NOW, HE'S SPREADG AWARENS ABOUT A SPREADG HIV CRISIS INDIA.ROJA HEYDARPOURUPDATED JUL. 13, 2017 5:46PM EDT / PUBLISHED MAY 21, 2011 3:58AM EDT PRCE MANVENDRA SGH GOHIL PREPAR FOR AIDES GALA DNER ON NOVEMBER 27, 2010 PARIS, FRANCE. (PASL LE SEGRETA / AIDES & LK / GETTY IMAG)PRCE MANVENDRA SGH GOHIL, THE FIRST OPENLY GAY PRCE INDIA, TOOK TO A MAKHIFT STAGE A SWANKY INDIAN RTRANT NEW YORK LAST WEEK. CLUTCHG THE MICROPHONE WH TWO HANDS, HE ULD HARDLY BE HEARD OVER THE D OF GUTS ON THEIR FOURTH ROUND OF EE ABSOLUT.“AS WE SAY INDIA, NAMASTE,” HE SED.“YEEAAA! NAMAS-TAY,” SCREAMED A WOMAN, SWAYG OM SI TO SI. THE SOFT-SPOKEN PRCE OF RAIPLA TOOK ALL STRI, SEEMG TO ENJOY HIMSELF—AND EVEN VG EVERYONE THE ROOM TO HIS PK PALACE. “IT IS LIKE A STRAWBERRY SHORTKE WH ICG. AND YOU ARE ALL WELE. I MEAN . YOU N E SEE ROYALTY.” THE CROWD HAD GATHERED TO RAISE MONEY FOR THE PRCE’S CHARY, THE LAKSHYA TST, AN ANIZATN FOUND BY FIVE MEN RAL INDIA DITED TO RAISG AWARENS OF HIV/AIDS. THE DISEASE IS SPREADG QUICKLY INDIA—2.4 LN PEOPLE ARE LIVG WH HIV THERE, ACRDG TO THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATN. THE GUTS—MOSTLY INDIAN, GAY, OR GAY INDIANS—MGLED NERVOLY AT AS THE EVENG BEGAN. A PROTOL SHEET ON HOW TO TREAT A PRCE WAS PASSED AROUND.“ONE SHOULD WA FOR THE PRCE TO EXTEND HIS HAND, BEFORE YOU GO TO SHAKE .”“DO NOT TURN YOUR BACK ON HIM AS HE MOV ON.”BY THE END OF THE NIGHT, GUTS WERE JOKG EELY ABOUT HOW THEY WOULD TREAT THE PRCE.SEQUTERED A DIMLY L RNER THE BACK, THE PRCE SAW PEOPLE 10-MUTE TERVALS, EELY DISCSG HIS SEXUALY AND THE AIDS CRISIS INDIA.“I AM STILL SGLE AND NEED TO MGLE.”“IN INDIA, HIV HAS BEEN A BLSG DISGUISE,” HE SAID. “HIV GAVE A PLATFORM TO EMPOWER OURSELV. A LOT OF MY IENDS ARE GETTG FECTED.”GOHIL, 45, FIRST ME OUT TO HIS FAY 2002, AFTER A NERVO BREAKDOWN. HE ULDN’T HI HIS SEXUALY ANYMORE AT THAT POT. HE HAD BEEN MARRIED TO A WOMAN 1991, BUT ONLY A YEAR LATER, WHOUT EVER HAVG NSUMMATED THE MARRIAGE, HE GOT A DIVORCE. HE STILL LIV WH THE GUILT OF HURTG HIS WIFE. BY 2006, HE OFFICIALLY ME OUT WHEN HE GAVE AN TERVIEW TO A LOL PAPER. RELATNS WH HIS FAY BEME STRAED, AND HAVE YET TO BE FULLY REPAIRED. SCE THEN, HE HAS TAKEN HIS STORY ALL OVER THE WORLD, EVEN APPEARG ON OPRAH TWICE.BUT JT LAST WEEK, AS GOHIL ARRIVED NEW YORK TO RAISE AWARENS, AND DISCS HOW DIFFICULT AND TABOO HOMOSEXUALY IS INDIA, TWO AMERINS THE PUBLIC EYE ED A STIR WHEN THEY ME OUT. FIRST THERE WAS THE PRINT OF THE PHOENIX SUNS, WHO ME OUT AN TERVIEW WH THE NEW YORK TIM. THEN, DON LEMON, THE CNN ANCHOR, TOLD THE WORLD HE WAS GAY ON TWTER.THE PRCE DIDN’T SEEM TOO SURPRISED THAT HOMOSEXUALY WAS STILL SOMEWHAT OF AN ISSUE THE STAT. “RELIGN HAS PLAYED A ROLE MANY ISSU, AND ALSO HOMOSEXUALY, SO EVEN AMERI HASN’T BEEN SPARED OM THAT,” HE SAID. “I THK ’S IMPORTANT FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE KNOWN TO E OUT OF THE CLOSET.”THAT SAID, THE PRCE HAS A LONG WAY TO GO. BEG RAISED A SOCIETY—AND A FAY—WHERE HOMOSEXUALY WAS NOT EVEN AN OPTN SEEMS TO HAVE HAD S EFFECT ON HIM. NEARLY 10 YEARS AFTER G OUT TO HIS FAY, THE PRCE STILL DON’T HAVE A PARTNER. AND THE NIGHTLIFE ISN’T FOR HIM. “I’M NOT ED TO THE PARTY CULTURE BEE I E OM A ROYAL FAY.” HE VISED A GAY BAR WHILE AMERI, BUT DIDN’T EXACTLY BLEND . “I DON’T FEEL VERY FORTABLE THE GAY BARS,” HE SAID. “I AM ALWAYS FORMAL ATTIRE.”STILL, THE LIFE ISN’T PLETELY FOREIGN TO HIM. WHEN ASKED IF HE WAS STILL SGLE, HE SED ALMOST MISCHIEVOLY. “I AM STILL SGLE AND NEED TO MGLE.”ROJA HEYDARPOUR IS AN EDOR AT THE DAILY BEAST. SHE HAS REPORTED FOR THE THE NEW YORK TIM AND THE TIM-TRIBUNE. ROJA HEYDARPOUR

Yet, the claratn also brought him ternatnal fame, wh Sgh appearg on BBC and The Oprah Wey Show to speak about his 2000, he started an anisatn lled The Lakshya Tst to work towards the preventn of HIV amongst gay men and now actively mpaigns for the crimalizatn of homosexualy India.

Gay rights nnot jt be won the urtroom, but also the hearts and mds of the people we live wh. (Pasl Le Segreta / AIDES & Lk / Getty Imag)Prce Manvendra Sgh Gohil, the first openly gay prce India, took to a makhift stage a swanky Indian rtrant New York last week.

The guts—mostly Indian, gay, or gay Indians—mgled nervoly at as the eveng began. Sce then, he has taken his story all over the world, even appearg on Oprah jt last week, as Gohil arrived New York to raise awarens, and discs how difficult and taboo homosexualy is India, two Amerins the public eye ed a stir when they me out. Then, Don Lemon, the CNN anchor, told the world he was gay on prce didn’t seem too surprised that homosexualy was still somewhat of an issue the Stat.

MEET THE WORLD'S FIRST OPENLY GAY PRCE MANVENDRA SGH GOHIL

“Relign has played a role many issu, and also homosexualy, so even Ameri hasn’t been spared om that, ” he said.