21st century: Not the best time to be an Indian

Shreya Rai
Aug 27, 2017 · 3 min read

“Too much blood has flown from the wrists of the children shamed for those they chose to kiss.”

There are many things that are not accepted in India: terrorism, rape, consumption of beef, bullying and unfortunately, homosexuality. Now if you’re thinking that homosexuality is some “heinous crime intolerable in society” let me tell you, it’s not. Homosexuality is simple words is being sexually or emotionally attracted to someone from one’s own sex, which somehow, people cannot bear. Discussing the topic of LGBT within the confines of home, school, and family, still remains a constant struggle for the LGBT community. In Urban India, social media has played a very significant role to raise awareness for LGBT rights and equality but it still exposes a very small part of the challenges faced by the community in the rural areas. Far away from all the heated discussion, pride parades and marches for equality, the ugly truth remains: LGBT people are an abomination.

I recently read an article that wrote “21st century: Best time for an Indian” And I wanted to read on, because I was curious, curious as to how they can so effortlessly say that when I can count the problems an Indian is facing in today’s world, on my fingertips. But I didn’t. Because I knew that the only things that’ll be included in that article will be about how advanced we have become in the aspect of technology and how India is one of the few countries who is preserving their culture from “western influences”. And I’m not saying that this isn’t true or that I’m not proud of this, but if preserving our culture from western influences means reinstating section 377 of the penal code, making homosexuality illegal in India, which originally is an outdated British law, then I’m not sure if 21st century really is the best time for an Indian, that is, until unless we do not consider our LGBT brothers and sisters to be Indians.

Furthermore, coming back to our culture, I being a curious young soul, am actually confused as to what our culture says about homosexuality. Because on one hand, I am surrounded by this cacophony of noise telling me things that are completely different from what I see. For example, let’s talk about ancient India. In ancient India, there was a place for all kinds of diverse cultures and literature, the society was very accepting. At one place, we have pure and strictly religious paintings and sculptures like the Jagannath Puri temples and on the other hand we have monuments like Khajuraho which is famous for its erotic arts and sculptures, this also includes sculptures depicting homosexual activities. This clearly shows that not only all types of sexual orientation were there in ancient past but people were broad minded and tolerant. However, our modern society has somehow become less tolerant towards anything which is not regular and common. This intolerance has also resulted in 1,492 arrests in 2015 under section 377.

So, I’ll tell you what’s it’s like being a homosexual in India, especially rural areas. It’s being killed or raped by your own family just because you love someone from your own gender/sex. This is what’s really happening in 21st century India, far away from the pride parades and meet-ups. And if this is the reality, then I’m not proud to be an Indian.

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Shreya Rai

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