Continued from "Read the Whole Story Part-II"
At this moment, there are about 200 nations in the world. And after years and years of Queer revolutions, and fights for equal rights, after years of Pride marches, and protest rallies, after years of Harvey Milk, and Johanna Siguroardottir, the number of nations where those with alternative sexual identities have rights at par with all other citizens is 9. 9 out of 200. If one happens to fall in love with someone of one’s own gender, there are only 9 out of 200 nations where one would not be put behind bars or be hanged until death. These are merely legal statistics. Socially, rapes, corrective rapes, gang-rapes, and even lynching, mutilation and murder are not uncommon all over the world for people who are not straight. Yemen, to Nicaragua to Aligarh, India. These cases are pretty common. Take, for instance, the case of Serigne Mbaye from Senegal. His children could not find him a place in any of the local cemeteries because there were rumours abound about his being gay. Or David Kato, a gay rights activist in Uganda, who was beaten to death with a hammer shortly after he won a court-case against a newspaper that had outed him, and ran headlines saying ‘Hang Them’. Or Elephant Man from Jamaica, who proudly composes songs with lyrics such as ‘When you hear a lesbian getting raped/ It’s not our fault… Two women in bed/That’s two sodomites who should be dead’. The less said about corrective rapes against lesbians, the better. Sometimes, even elders of the family- brothers, uncles, and even fathers rape a little girl, only to beat the ‘masculinity’ out of her. Their logic? ‘A little taste of manliness will show them what they really want’.
For how much longer, do we have to keep holding forth the same old arguments about how the homeland of Lord Macaulay- who made Article 377 a part of the Indian Penal Code in 1860 - England, made homosexuality legal as far back as 1967 ? For how much longer do we have to keep pointing out the instances of homosexuality in our ancient Indian civilizations, clearly depicted on the walls of Khajuraho and Konark temples, and keep reiterating to everyone that homosexuality is not a Western Import? For how much longer do we have to keep arguing that homosexuality, has infact, been observed in over 1500 animal species, and well documented in over 500 (and homophobia documented in only one)? Till when do we have to keep telling people that the American Psychiatric Association declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder in 1973, and the WHO, in 1990? Till when do we have to keep mentioning the names of the geniuses all through history, that were in fact, attracted to people of the same sex( as more and more famous people keep joining their ranks, and keep coming out every year?)
What Sapna probably did not realize,(or even if she did, probably she did not want to reconcile with the realization) is that expressions of endless love, and being lauded for the same- just the way they show it in the movies, and they sing about it in those innumerable songs, is probably meant only for those who can learn to love within the diktats and the boundaries defined by society, only for those lucky people, who can fall in love with people of the opposite gender( but the same caste/gotra etc etc).
(Translated from the article titled 'Ebong Bewaarish' from the 18th November, 2012 edition of Robibashoriyo, written by Debolina)
To Read the Previous stories Click here: Part-1 and Part-2
At this moment, there are about 200 nations in the world. And after years and years of Queer revolutions, and fights for equal rights, after years of Pride marches, and protest rallies, after years of Harvey Milk, and Johanna Siguroardottir, the number of nations where those with alternative sexual identities have rights at par with all other citizens is 9. 9 out of 200. If one happens to fall in love with someone of one’s own gender, there are only 9 out of 200 nations where one would not be put behind bars or be hanged until death. These are merely legal statistics. Socially, rapes, corrective rapes, gang-rapes, and even lynching, mutilation and murder are not uncommon all over the world for people who are not straight. Yemen, to Nicaragua to Aligarh, India. These cases are pretty common. Take, for instance, the case of Serigne Mbaye from Senegal. His children could not find him a place in any of the local cemeteries because there were rumours abound about his being gay. Or David Kato, a gay rights activist in Uganda, who was beaten to death with a hammer shortly after he won a court-case against a newspaper that had outed him, and ran headlines saying ‘Hang Them’. Or Elephant Man from Jamaica, who proudly composes songs with lyrics such as ‘When you hear a lesbian getting raped/ It’s not our fault… Two women in bed/That’s two sodomites who should be dead’. The less said about corrective rapes against lesbians, the better. Sometimes, even elders of the family- brothers, uncles, and even fathers rape a little girl, only to beat the ‘masculinity’ out of her. Their logic? ‘A little taste of manliness will show them what they really want’.
For how much longer, do we have to keep holding forth the same old arguments about how the homeland of Lord Macaulay- who made Article 377 a part of the Indian Penal Code in 1860 - England, made homosexuality legal as far back as 1967 ? For how much longer do we have to keep pointing out the instances of homosexuality in our ancient Indian civilizations, clearly depicted on the walls of Khajuraho and Konark temples, and keep reiterating to everyone that homosexuality is not a Western Import? For how much longer do we have to keep arguing that homosexuality, has infact, been observed in over 1500 animal species, and well documented in over 500 (and homophobia documented in only one)? Till when do we have to keep telling people that the American Psychiatric Association declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder in 1973, and the WHO, in 1990? Till when do we have to keep mentioning the names of the geniuses all through history, that were in fact, attracted to people of the same sex( as more and more famous people keep joining their ranks, and keep coming out every year?)
What Sapna probably did not realize,(or even if she did, probably she did not want to reconcile with the realization) is that expressions of endless love, and being lauded for the same- just the way they show it in the movies, and they sing about it in those innumerable songs, is probably meant only for those who can learn to love within the diktats and the boundaries defined by society, only for those lucky people, who can fall in love with people of the opposite gender( but the same caste/gotra etc etc).
(Translated from the article titled 'Ebong Bewaarish' from the 18th November, 2012 edition of Robibashoriyo, written by Debolina)
To Read the Previous stories Click here: Part-1 and Part-2
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