For many gay and lbian South Asians livg the US, g out volv bridgg gaps between culture, muny and sexualy
Contents:
- 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
- GAY INDIA
- WHAT DO MEAN TO BE A GAY DOCTOR INDIA?
INDIA'S FIRST OPENLY GAY PRCE ENDURED YEARS OF TORTURO NVERSN THERAPY. NOW, HE'S FIGHTG TO MAKE THE PRACTICE ILLEGAL.
For Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgenr, and Queer Pri Month, Dennis Zotigh, a cultural specialist at the Natnal Mm of the Amerin Indian, ved Native iends to tell how their tradnal culture saw s LGBTQ members. A Chirihua Apache iend replied, “Now, Dennis, this is a human qutn, not [jt] Native.” We agree. But we also appreciate hearg what Native Amerins have learned, renstcted, or been unable to renstct about this part of our shared history and experience. * indian and gay *
In 2017, when he told his parents he was gay, their illn of him as the perfect son shattered. Unlike Sourav, who nfintly asserts himself as a gay man spe the phback om his loved on, back the 1980s and 1990s, I had no termology to scribe what I was.
There was emotnal blackmail, cludg beg blamed for his mother’s illns; beg taken by his parents to nsult a homophobic nropsychiatrist who diagnosed him wh a “sexual disorr”, prcribed meditn for and remend unsellg to rrect his ways; and opprsive parental surveillance, aid by the lack of privacy their two-room home. To his horror, she told him that he was “not normal”, followed by advice monly given to young gay men: bee more “mascule”.
He believ that if his father had not been homophobic, his mother would have e around by now.
THE SLOW EVOLUTN OF GAY CULTURE INDIA
Lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr Amerin Indian and Alaskan Native (AIAN) adults have higher levels of mental health issu, physil abe and enomic * indian and gay *
The transphobic and homophobic people peddlg illegal, unscpulo treatments are not likely to disappear overnight. June is Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgenr, and Queer Pri Month the Uned Stat.
GAY INDIA
* indian and gay *
Native natns are siar to other world populatns the mographic reprentatn of lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr dividuals.
Adopted as part of the morn pan-Indian vobulary 1990 durg the third annual ter-tribal Native Amerin/First Natns Gay and Lbian Amerin Conference, Wnipeg, Manoba, refers to dividuals who intify as lbian, gay, bisexual, queer, transgenr, transsexual, or genr-fluid. For our pri observance this year, the mm asked our Native iends, “How did your tribe tradnally view dividuals who are lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr?
WHAT DO MEAN TO BE A GAY DOCTOR INDIA?
Societal valu, the ste system, arranged marriag, the high probabily of beg dishered for g out — India, everythg ns unter to gay liberatn. * indian and gay *
My grandmother, the late Lucy Lewis, had gay and lbian iends. Lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr Amerin Indian and Alaskan Native (AIAN) adults have higher levels of mental health issu, physil abe and enomic stabily than their non-LGBTQ peers, acrdg to a new report.
A 2015 report om the Natnal Congrs of Amerin Indians found 54 percent of gay and lbian AIAN stunts reported beg subject to physil vlence bee of their sexual orientatn, and more than 1 3 said they missed class at least once the last month for fear of beg bullied or harassed. In 1987, she helped anize the Basket and the Bow, the first natnal gatherg of gay and lbian Amerin Indians, held at the Mneapolis Amerin Indian Center. “The are not gay-iendly church, and they’re the on that have a lot of sway those areas.
They may preach the native language, but they still preach the dogma of whe, homophobic Christiany. ” For many years, intifyg as gay meant leavg the rervatn, Day said, for much the same reasons whe people who me out left small towns — isolatn, alienatn and discrimatn.
Comprehensive gay India travel gui. Fd the bt gay bars, snas, spas and hotels India cludg maps, reviews and offers. * indian and gay *
Read more: Column: Homophobia Is Not an Asian Value It’s for this reason that some activists believe India might not be ready for same-sex marriage—at least until genr and sexual orientatn discrimatn are outlawed. “There are host of other battl to be fought and won, ” says Shep Sgh, an activist and founr of Gaylaxy, a LGBTQ magaze.
“The society is not gog to sh to embrace gay marriage but that’s not what we are necsarily lookg for, ” says Srabh Kirpal, a lawyer who helped challenged the law crimalizg same-sex relatns. At the time, he was his fal semter at the Universy of Texas and cid he had hidn his sexualy om his fay long was 1999, well before Mehta beme Barack Obama’s first liaison to the LGBT muny – the first of three Indian Amerins to eventually hold that post – and before his current appotment as chief of staff to the new surgeon general, Vivek those days Indian Amerins were eply nial about homosexualy, so when Mehta told his parents he was gay, he was worried they would sever all ti to him. My role mol was tellg me somethg that I, beg as homophobic as I am, always regard as an aberratn and a product of this liberated, wtern culture, ” Dr Mehta wrote, reuntg the first moments after his son me out.