Recently I read a few
posts about this subject (gays and lesbians) at Speaking Tree, a forum on the
web edition of Times of India that deals with spirituality and related
subjects. Even today, homosexuality is considered a taboo subject in India. Not only
homosexuality but anything associated with sexuality or human sexual
behavior is rarely discussed in any open forum in India or even within a family. Things are slowly changing
since the globalization of the Indian economy. People are becoming more aware of
these issues, and sections of society that were suppressed for centuries are
now becoming more vocal about their rights and are demanding fair treatment in society.
Movements started by homosexuals and transgenders are examples of this. I think in India it's a really hot topic nowadays because of so many things. This issue came into the news recently when various courts made some judgments in favor of gay or
lesbian couples. This generated fierce debate among people at various levels mainly at online forums
and social media. The discussion everywhere is about the validity of these types of relationships and many also believe that it's all because of Western influence. I am surprised
to see very primitive thinking about this subject. I discussed this thing
briefly in my post about marriage, I personally believe that marriage is a legal
pact between two individuals who want to enter into a legal relationship and these two
individuals can be from the same or different sex (note that traditionally it was people from
different sex, male and female). I came to know about this issue (about
gays and lesbians) or this type of sexual orientation very late in my life
(only when I came to the USA) but when I came to know about this, I studied this subject in detail and tried to understand this issue and related
things. I was lucky to meet some people from this community and all people I
met till now are wonderful human beings. I didn’t feel in any way that they are a threat
to our society or culture, I wonder why people think like that.
I also see people
projecting gayism as some type of disease or addiction like drug addiction or
something. Really? I am still trying to find out on what basis people say
that. There is a lot of information available about what factors dictate sexual
orientation in humans and there is a lot of research material available to read.
None of them project it as a disease or addiction. Many people who criticize this
type of sexual orientation have a feeling that they are doing some service to
humans by trying to eliminate this group. It is the same mentality that makes
people think that it’s their duty to convert people from other religions
into their own religion as they totally believe that their own religion is the
ONLY right way to live human life. Human sexual orientation or behavior is a very complex subject and I don’t think any religion or scripture deals with
this subject, so using these books as a reference to deal with these types of
issues is totally wrong. It’s like using a physics book to solve some complex
biology problem.
We all need to
respect and tolerate each other's opinions as well as choices. Whatever is allowed by law of land
should be respected and followed. In a democracy, everyone has the right to express
their opinion but stereotyping any community without any reason or targeting
them for no fault of theirs is wrong. I hope people will get over this
prejudice against certain sections of society and learn to live in harmony. After all, we all are different and have
different likes and dislikes. Let's live and let others live.
Thanks for reading
and please share your views.
Reference:
(Copyright: Vinay
Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or
publishing)
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