India's First Openly Gay Prce Turned His Palace Into a Safe Haven for the LGBTQ+ Communy

Contents:

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

THE SLOW EVOLUTN OF GAY CULTURE INDIA

When clil psychologist Lata Hemchand, PhD, began her private practice Bangalore, India, almost four s ago, she viewed her homosexual patients the way she was tght to at one of India’s top trag stutns—as sexual viants.

) While the judg foced their arguments primarily on the importance of dividual tonomy, nondiscrimatn and privacy, they poted repeatedly to the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn’s 1973 cisn to remove homosexualy om s list of mental disorrs.

Dpe the longtime ban, some ways acceptance of homosexual behavr is eply rooted Indian culture, says Ahuja, cg as exampl the posive pictns of same-sex activy the 2, 000-year-old Kama Sutra and the 1, 000-year-old erotic sculptur at the Khajuraho templ. But while Indian society is willg to accept homosexualy certa groups—pecially among creative profsnals the world of fashn or film—homosexualy overall is highly stigmatized, she says.

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

14, 2017), Ahuja tted a three-part terventn: an tnal prentatn offerg facts about homosexualy and s longtime prence Indian culture; an exercise which participants image they are members of a persecuted mory; and a ssn based on the ntact hypothis which stunts teract wh a gay man and a lbian woman. “We really need more such foms to talk about homosexualy and to give the opportuny for homosexuals to share their experienc, ” says Ahuja, notg that Indians’ attus are typilly shaped by media pictns of homosexuals as buffoons.

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NEW DELHI, Jan 11 (Rters) - The lear of a Hdu group that is the parent anisatn of India's lg party has e out support of the gay and transgenr muny, days before the ernment is due to rpond to the Supreme Court about petns to legalise same-sex crimalised homosexualy when scrapped a lonial-era ban on gay sex 2018, but remas a taboo topic this socially nservative untry of 1. Speakg to an RSS-backed magaze published this week, Bhagwat said the lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr (LGBT) muny "should have their own private and social space as they are humans and have the right to live as others" ced Hdu scriptur and mythology as the basis of his support, and add: "Whout much hullabaloo, we have found a way wh a humane approach to provi them social acceptance. The anisatn was behd Modi's rise to month, India's Supreme Court started hearg petns to regnise same-sex marriag after four gay upl stated that whout legal regnn, they n not have accs to rights such as those lked to medil nsent, pensns, adoptn or even club memberships.

The term “homosexualy, ” while sometim nsired anachronistic the current era, is the most applible and easily translatable term to e when askg this qutn across societi and languag and has been ed other cross-natnal studi, cludg the World Valu Survey.

Dpe major chang laws and norms surroundg the issue of same-sex marriage and the rights of LGBT people around the world, public opn on the acceptance of homosexualy society remas sharply divid by untry, regn and enomic velopment.

In many of the untri surveyed, there also are differenc on acceptance of homosexualy by age, tn, e and, some stanc, genr – and several s, the differenc are substantial. For example, some untri, those who are affiliated wh a relig group tend to be ls acceptg of homosexualy than those who are unaffiliated (a group sometim referred to as relig “non”).