I was probably in the first year of my MBA course where I came across this movie called Brokeback Mountain which is a beautiful and internationally acclaimed movie depicting the complex love affair between two American cow boys. Though I had known about homosexuality but witnessing the intense and passionate love between two men was a very different experience for me personally. More than anything, what moved me was the strong emotion displayed by the protagonists towards each other. After watching the movie, it did cross my mind many a times that is this for real? Can such feelings be real? This curiosity helped me read a little about the topic and get myself understand that homosexuality is absolutely normal and has been a part of human civilization since time immemorial!

Talking about Sex has always been a taboo in India! And this has resulted in rise in ignorance in many fields like homosexuality, LGBT community or even the basic sexual wellness among many. There are repercussions to this as today a lot amongst us seems clueless today about such aspects of life. Just by closing our eyes and mouth does not change the reality! We are the inhabitants of the land which gifted the treasure of Kamasutra to the whole world in historic times . we were so advanced of those times, as sage Vyatsayana documented The Kamasutra and gave the whole world knowledge of understanding our own bodies and the desires attached with it. But with modern times, have we really become modern in true sense? There have always been apprehension and quizzical thoughts when we talk about LGBT community and their lifestyle.

My second close encounter was when I was working in Mumbai. On one occasion , I had the opportunity to see the living conditions of transgender community and the difficulties they faced. What surprised me was, while we crib about the issues in our life , there whole life and the identity was an issue and yet they were persistently united to make themselves heard, to let us know that they exist and they are just like us, completely normal. Having different choices is a personal matter and just by having a different sexual orientation, they do not become less or different from us! People might mock them but I was astounded by the resilience that they have in them as a community. Parents disown their own blood when they discover such signs, but these community hold each of their member closely and are protective of each other. Isn’t it something wonderful to learn from them?

over the years, I have followed the topics covered in the news and one such highly debated case was of Section 377 in the Indian Law. The following picture shows the twists & turns against the ban on homosexuality.

The Supreme Court, in a landmark judgement on September 6, 2018, unanimously struck down part of the Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which criminalized gay sex, saying that it violated the constitutional right to equality and dignity. ( Section 377 declared “carnal intercourse against the order of nature” punishable by imprisonment for life.)

After this event, many came out openly about their orientation and their relationships. Some parents understood and supported while others did not. But non the less, this judgement has undoubtedly led the foundation towards a more inclusive society for sure.

Some stars that glow wherever they are

Stars are born to shine and no matter what gender they are born to shine, they leave their spark behind. The stars from this community like Vikram Seth, Gauri Sawant, Manavendra Singh Gohil, Laxmi Narayan Tripathy are only a few who have been doing illustrious work in their own fields despite all odds. I would be writing about such stars in detail in my next post in the sereis of #causeachatter

personally, for me I have to read more literature on this subject to understand this topic and the characters in a better way. In the mean time you can read Suchita’s blog and a blog post on Blogchatter website to know more about this topic of gender talks.

My conclusive thoughts in this post are , no matter what Love is Love and it is beyond any inhibition including that of any gender related concern. What are your thoughts on the same? Do let me know!

This post is part of Blogchatter’s CauseAChatter, Gender Talks.

‘This post is a part of ‘Blogchatter Half Marathon’ .

Love,

Chinmayee