Loving Pride

Posted on by Parul Thakur

Hello World, my old friend,

Do you want to take a random guess about what I have been thinking over this long weekend? A restaurant review, a travel experience or a lesson on feminism?  NO. Today is about letting others love “who” they want to and taking pride in who we are. Today is about loving “Pride”.

As you are an old guy my dear friend, I am sure you know so many things that I haven’t even heard of. You know it all but did you know that the lady who knocks on your car window and so many others too and keeps asking for money at traffic signals could have worked and earned her bread? She looks different and then I realize that she is not physically challenged yet she can’t get a job as the application forms call out either M or F. What should she pick? She chooses to beg instead. Did you know she cannot even apply for a driving license or a PAN card?

A couple of days back, I was surfing channels and I landed on Discovery. It’s an informative pick but I was surprised when the channel took me to my own country and I heard that India is a home to approximately 6 million transgenders and this may be just an estimate. I was also told that in 2011, for the first time ever, the census included transgenders as a third category. In the olden times like Mughals and dynastical era, transgenders were considered to bring luck, were respected and accepted socially, then how come today after centuries they are the sections of society who have no access to education, healthcare and even employment?

Per a research taken up by Mc Kinsey, India is home to 50 to 100 million people who are gay, lesbian or bisexual. But do you know how many come out to participate in Pride marches today? Close to 5000 and this number includes the supporters of the cause as well.  Talking about Article 16, Section 377 of IPC and its decriminalization in 2009, I started looking over the internet to understand this better as a stance taken by India. I was shocked and surprised. Last year in December 2013, the SC declared homosexuality a crime again. For someone like me who is not well versed with legal jargons and parlance, I only stand to say that what about an Indian’s right to love whoever she or he wants to? What about moving to a progressive way of thinking and not taking steps in the backward direction? How can a section introduced in 1861 hold good today in 2014?

I am not saying that we haven’t moved forward. We have taken mini steps but we need more efforts. We have Shabnam Mausi and we have a new Adhaar Card that’s progressive. At the same time there are religious bodies that oppose out in full view. The secret is guarded and most of the times people end up taking it to their graves. My point is why should an individual not have the right to choose a partner and why should “anyone” question/oppose that choice? I do not care even if the “anyone” is a parent or a spouse? When Deepa Mehta’s movie Fire was released in 1996, it faced a lot of protests from all over. Are we certain that today, 18 years later, a movie released on the same topic will not face any protest? When will these conversations come out in the living room and will not be a matter of shame?

When dear World, when?

Your well-wisher and friend,

P

I am no expert on the topic and the views expressed in this post are mine. I love Pride and so does Wiki(pedia). A little over a month ago, I had an opportunity to edit Wikipedia to increase content specific to the LGBT community. I have edited Wikipedia before but this event was unique. Close to 35 articles were created by the help of 35 participants from Mangalore, 15 from Bangalore and 10 from New Delhi. Personally, I had never stepped into a zone that was so unfamiliar. Good thing is that I wanted to.

I am only one,

But still I am one.

I cannot do everything,

But still I can do something;

And because I cannot do everything,

I will not refuse to do the something that I can do. ~ Edward Everett Hale

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.

Also linking this to Write Tribe Wednesday Prompt – 27 August 2014 – my two cents’ worth

Source : Google
We are Indians first. Source : Google

28 thoughts on “Loving Pride”

  1. Its a lovely post. A lot of support is also required from the non-transgenders or from the non-LGBT community which is terribly lacking at present in India. But, there is definitely a change for the better from what I have seen probably 15-20 years ago.

    Strangely, the section created in 1861 was done by the British. UK itself scrapped this law this year in March 2014.

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  3. Interesting points made coupled with fact. It’s high time for us to have an open mind and life the veil of prejudice. No discrimination should be tolerated and people should come up to support the cause since what matters is living with dignity.
    Sometimes back, I wrote a piece on the SC judgement which is a real shame.

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  4. Well the easiest way would be BAN RELIGION.. 99.9% of the problems out country faces will be fixed with just one call ..

    We indians are very racist even if we dont like being called one , we disciminate on caste – creed – religion – even states .. areas we live in .. I do wish and hope things change

    because it is very insulting when you are in Hyderabad railway station and a guy whom If I slapped would not have got up, saying “OYE sardar.. rasta de” .. and then the same happening in punjab where a Sardar calls a rickshaw wala OYE BHAIYA, idhar aa ..

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  6. I feel so bad for the LGBT community in India. They have been so well accepted in Europe and America but the condition is so bad in India. I know a few people who are moving abroad hoping they will have a better life there, because they know they will never be accepted by the society here

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    1. That is really sad! I wish we Indians were acceptable when it comes to sexual preferences. The change starts with all of us talking openly about it. Since these topics are always discussed behind closed doors, people who work for the community do not come out openly to share their perspective.

      Thanks for stopping by! Keep visiting and sharing your thoughts!

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    2. It’s not true that LGBT people are very well accepted in the whole of America. I know it’s definitely better than (probably) the rest of the world, but even in America (especially in certain southern states), homophobia exists. But it’s true that India has to grow up! I remember having this conversation with a friend of my dad’s and his lines were “Homosexuality is a disease. Those sick people should be medically treated”. x-(

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  7. Yet to read your wow entry. Will read it when I revisit. For now, need to tell you this: I’ve nominated you for the Very Inspiring Blog Award. Please visit and accept if it isn’t against your blogging terms.
    http://wp.me/p3FhMj-9A
    Cheers.

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  10. Truly well expressed. We have progressed so much in so many fields but our thinking is still quite narrow minded when it comes to such issues. Moving out of this prejudiced thinking is the need of the hour.

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  15. “Every time you post something online, you have a choice.
    You can either make it something that adds to the happiness levels in the world—or you can make it something that takes away.LGBT community needs a support that is lacking in india when comparing to other countries lovely post thanks for sharing it..

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