What are the living conditions for homosexuals in India; socially, culturally and politically?
It is illegal to be a homosexual in India. There is a law from 1860, stated by the British and it can give homosexuals a lifetime punishment in jail. This law also says that if you for example give out free condoms to gays or if you as a doctor treats a homosexual person that has got HIV you are an accomplish and can also be sent to jail. Still there is also a form of treatment that is believed to cure homosexuality! As a part of this “aversion therapy” the doctors give electrical shots to the homosexual person. First the doctor shows a picture of a person of the opposite sex and then a picture of a person of the same sex and then zzzz, electrical shock to create feelings of disgust. Obviously the Indian society is so far behind that I’m not sure where the transformation has to begin. What I just described reminds me of Stanley Kubrick’s movie “Clockwork orange” from 1970 where the main character “Alex” gets this kind of treatment against violence. Sadly the treatment helps”Alex” to become a “good” person but it is extremely inhuman and starts a discussion about people’s rights. A discussion about people’s rights is also what is going on in India.
In reality I believe India as for large parts of the rest of the world has to change. Like the economy of India the awareness about the world is growing and so are the questions and the rights of the homosexual people. The younger generation (mostly the rich) is much more acceptable for change, some of them don’t even dress in saris anymore, and they wear jeans, shirts, skirts and tops instead. They go to bars and drink alcohol. They don’t marry as a child because of their religion. However India has billions of inhabitants and therefore it takes an awful lot of time for change to happen. And on top of that there is also something called Cultural Tradition.
Cultural tradition in India is of course widely spread among the inhabitants. Even though the “new” (richer) generation is kind of accepting the change that is happening the total opposite happens for the poor people. Since the British left the rule over this country there has been a search for everything that is truly Indian and here tradition comes in. Tradition revolves around everything in the Indian society but is, for me at least mostly noticeable when we come to study the roles of men and women. The man as the “power” of the family, the one who brings home the money and the woman as the “shy” companion, always covered with layers of cloth for no other men to see her and the one who stays at home taking care of the children. This traditional picture is the only acceptable image in the Indian society. I met a guy who told me that in the Indian society you only have one chance, by that he meant that you can never as a woman for example flirt with another man when you’re married because then you are not accepted by the society anymore. I mean by this that for the moment it must be very hard to be both homosexual and heterosexual in India. There are of course many people that are gay but don’t show it. They are hiding from the society and often against their will (because they are homosexual) they marry someone of the opposite sex. It is also because of religious traditions and because it is much easier to follow the rules of the society and then behind the scenes do what you have to do. Many times the family knows what is going on but keeps it a secret so they don’t expose the whole family and falls outside the society because they’re not accepted.
But there are also a visible group of homosexuals here in Mumbai. The group is called the “Hirjas”. They are a caste of transvestites and eunuchs who dress in women’s clothing. Some are hermaphrodites and some are gay and usually I see them in the trains, begging for money. They go around clapping their hands once and then touching my head (a sign of obedience) before reaching their palm out for some rupees. I never give them anything. There are many bad things said about this caste. One of them, which I heard from a lady on the train, was that they kidnap young girls and boys and castrate them. As I said, it is traditionally unacceptable to live openly as a gay man in India and therefore hirjas has become a sort of “third sex”. They often work as prostitutes or show up as uninvited entertainers for weddings and celebrations. The hirjas are by some not accepted in the society because of their low class, they are looked upon as scum or a laugh (like so many other poor people) and by others they are just a different group of people. They are often pictured in the Bollywood movies as the “funny friend of the good looking girl”. I think it is very interesting that a minority like this becomes an “accepted” caste in India even though they are not accepted in the society. Maybe it is a way of showing the people that it exists here as well as all over the rest of the world. Maybe it is a way of grouping them to show that this is not normal, to make them even more of “outsiders”.
I think it is a very hard question to discuss sexual freedom in a country where love is defined so different from where I come from; where for me freedom of love does not exist. Indians do not kiss in front of others; they do not hug or show their love to the world like I do. In India it is just changing (as I said in a very small scale) that you can choose your partner of free will. But for most of the people (and I’m talking about millions) love is marrying someone you don’t know and being with that person for the rest of your life. Producing babies, hopefully boys and almost never see your partner. They have a tough life because the man has to work every day of the week to be able to finance the family and the woman has to be home, taking care of the kids. They almost never see each other and traditionally that is the way it should be. Love in my sense, the way I see it doesn’t exist here. For me it is being able to choose who you want to be with and have sex with, same sex, opposite sex, whatever. To spend most of your time with this person and showing everybody how much you love him or her. Choosing whether you want to have children at all or choosing whether you want to have children before you’re married. To have sex with many people before you get settled. Getting divorced and meeting a new man or woman. The list goes on. I think not only has the conditions, rules and laws for homosexual people drastically has to change here in India, I believe that the cultural traditions for everybody has to change at the same time. It is a question of freedom for everybody.
It is only to make a point that I have painted a negative picture of what is happening in Mumbai concerning homosexuality. There really is happening something. I heard that two big Bollywood stars have come out telling the world of India that they are gay. I just believe that change is happening slower among the people on the streets. My contribution for changing the way things are is to kiss my boyfriend openly on the street even though almost everybody laughs points and acts like they are 12 years old.
