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On December 11, 2013, another instance proved that we are still living with our prejudices intact. That was the day when the Supreme Court declared same sex punishable under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code by referring to it as unnatural. In my opinion, I feel we all are being judgmental about the sexual preferences of an individual. We all have a right to vote, the freedom of speech, cultural and education rights – then why can’t we have a right to love the person we want to?
India is famous for its diversity; we feel proud to talk about our heritage, our rich culture but yet are ignoring the fact which was so much a part of us. We were the first ones to identify homosexuality. The book of love, or the Kama Sutra, written by Sage Vatsyayana, devotes a whole chapter to homosexuality by saying that “it is to be engaged in and enjoyed for its own sake as one of the arts.” Even Hindu temples built between 12th and 15th centuries AD, like the Konarak temple in Puri or the pagodas of Tanjore temples, depict erotic images of gods and goddesses engaging in sexual intercourse that our current modern law considers unnatural. These images cannot be considered a creation from the pervert fantasies of an artist.
Many inferences have been drawn from these images, and these can range from the apologetic to the ridiculous. A few scholars hold the rather puritanical view that devotees are being urged to leave these sexual thoughts aside before entering the sanctum sanctorum. Others believe that there is a hidden Tantric geometry in these images; the viewer can either be deluded by the sexuality of the images or enlightened by deciphering the geometrical patterns hidden within them. Even in mythology, we find instances of transgenders and homosexuals.
gay marriages.
Therefore, we Indians should realise that LGBTs (lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders) are not criminals and that choosing one’s own sexual preference is not a crime. We are the largest democracy and we must set an example. We should all be empathetic towards homosexuals as they too are part of our society, the same society that gives us the right to live the way we want to.
Biswas is a first-year MBA student at Bharathidasan Institute Of Management, Tiruchirappalli.
Thus homosexuality is a part of our own history. Only after the advent of the British, who considered homosexuality a crime, did we start to believe in their definitions of natural and unnatural sexuality. As a result, today we live with confusion and dichotomy. For every Algeria, Russia, Egypt, Kuwait, and Malaysia and of course India that considers homosexuality a crime, there is a Canada, Sweden, Portugal, Argentina or Mexico that has legalised
Biswas is a first-year MBA student at Bharathidasan Institute Of Management, Tiruchirappalli.
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