‘There are few gay people India’: stigma lgers spe legal victory | Human rights | The Guardian

Contents:

• WHAT MEANS TO BE GAY RAL INDIA
• ‘THERE ARE FEW GAY PEOPLE INDIA’: STIGMA LGERS SPE LEGAL VICTORY
• WHAT DO MEAN TO BE A GAY DOCTOR INDIA?
• BEG GAY INDIA: A SIKH MAN OUT TO HIS FATHER
• THE NATNS WHERE 'S STILL CRIMAL TO BE GAY (AS INDIA MARKS AN AWKWARD ANNIVERSARY)
• THE SLOW EVOLUTN OF GAY CULTURE INDIA
• 'BEG GAY RAL INDIA IS DIFFERENT. LERATURE NEEDS TO PTURE THAT'

WHAT MEANS TO BE GAY RAL INDIA

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.

The Supreme Court's cisn to make gay sex legal India has been hailed as the realy for members of the LGBT muny ral India is different. They believe will take a long time to change regrsive attus towards three gay people om ral India tell their Kumar, 28, northern state of Uttar PrashI am really happy wh the urt's cisn. No matter how nice I am or how much I help people, once they fd out I am gay, they n om people sympathise wh but they still thk 's a disease that needs to treated.

A law agast “unnatural sex” enshred by the lonial Brish ernment (and fend by succsive Indian on) was unanimoly led to no longer prohib homosexual acts.

‘THERE ARE FEW GAY PEOPLE INDIA’: STIGMA LGERS SPE LEGAL VICTORY

The reverberatns of the cisn – on sheer numbers, perhaps the largt sgle act of gay liberatn ever – are still ripplg across a vast, diverse and nservative untry. “The iology of marryg a woman and havg children here is eply rooted, ” says Shubhankar Mondal, a medil stunt and one of the few openly gay people at his llege the cy.

Its real impact, acrdg to reports by human rights groups, was to emboln police and others to extort and abe gay people, knowg most would be reluctant to seek help om a ernment that regard them as stigma still lgers. “In India, is a se of ethics, ” says Sanjay Paswan, a member of the Bihar state uncil and former Indian feral mister who opposed the cisn to lift the gay ban.

WHAT DO MEAN TO BE A GAY DOCTOR INDIA?

”The bnt of the prejudice is borne by Patna’s poorer and ls ted LGBT rints, who have limed accs to the empowerg gay culture that has veloped around the world the past half-century and which tells them they should feel pri who they how they intify, Roshni and Satya reel off a list of the slurs that are hurled at them the street. Through our own viss and those of the handful of LGBTQ+ tour operators who lead trips there, India is hospable and welg to all visors – cludg gay or lbian upl or groups.

We terviewed several gay tour operators cludg Bryan Herb om Zoom Vatns (listed as a rource below), Robert Sharp om Out Adventur, and Zach Mos om HE Travel, who have equently traveled to India, and they all report feelg credibly wele.

In urban India, where social media and rporate iativ have created creasg awarens of LGBT rights, the scenar looks more upbeat for gay men than for transgenr people or lbian women. In some parts, secret honour killgs are planned so that the only way for a young gay man to survive is to n away the ver of the night to some cy, wh no money or social support.

BEG GAY INDIA: A SIKH MAN OUT TO HIS FATHER

The nsequenc of g out A recent study found that one of the major factors that rults the stigmatizatn of LGBT people is parental reactn towards homosexualy.

" Anwh Sahoo, Mr Gay India 2016, who me out to his fay at the age of 16, has a different perspective: “I would not remend wag for the perfect time. " Parmh Shahani, head of Godrej India Culture Lab and thor of the book Gay Bombay, do not know a sgle person whose life turned for the worse after g out, the long term.

THE NATNS WHERE 'S STILL CRIMAL TO BE GAY (AS INDIA MARKS AN AWKWARD ANNIVERSARY)

Platforms like Gaysi and Gaylaxy, and publishers like Queer Ink have helped rve out spac for LGBT people to teract, share and llaborate. From the 1950s, when Evelyn Hooker proved scientifilly that homosexualy was not a mental illns, to now, wh s crimalisatn several untri, the LGBTQ muny still fac stiff opposn om fay, society, and at the workplace.

THE SLOW EVOLUTN OF GAY CULTURE INDIA

Today, on May 17, the Internatnal Day agast Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, Dr Sahil Kumar Ntiyal, Senr Rint, Department of Pharmalogy, Mlana Azad Medil College, talks about the implitns of beg a doctor who is gay.

For example, before the readg down of Sectn 377, my partner, Anshul Mahani, received a ll om a p who told him he would e to his office to arrt him on charg of beg a homosexual. Homosexuals who wish to embrace their sexualy should not thk of what people will thk, or whether this would lead to people snappg relatns wh them. After startg the page, a lot of stunts, iends, and even iends of iends have approached, the openns might ce certa people, but homophobia is more about rigid societal stctur, where the fn of ‘normal’ is firm and fixed, and any aberratn to is nsired ‘abnormal’.

'BEG GAY RAL INDIA IS DIFFERENT. LERATURE NEEDS TO PTURE THAT'

Photo: Manr J Sgh“I’m happy I watched , ” he rpond, surprisg was a monumental shift my father’s perceptn of me, a gay man, rather a woman stuck a man’s body.

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. 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.