By: Sauro Dasgupta
Every year, June is celebrated as ‘Pride Month’ in honour of the LGBTQ community, who in common parlance is known as ‘pride community’. There are pride marches, pride festivals, etc. However, it is said that our attitude towards the LGBTQ people has was worsened. A few days ago, the media reported that the first LGBTQ college principal in India, Dr Manabi Bandopadhyay was refused an RT-PCR test in a Kolkata hospital and humiliated by the staff. It speaks volumes about our prejudice against the LGBTQ community.
But were we always such a homophobic country? Did LGBTQ people never enjoy a position of prominence in India? We must also understand that how did we inculcate this prejudice against them?
The ancient Indian sex manual Kama Sutra explains homosexuality brilliantly. Arthashastra regarded homosexuality as a minor offence. In fact, homosexuality has been celebrated in our epics. The merger of Lord Shiva with his consort Parvati or the merger of Lord Vishnu with his consort Lakshmi leads Hindus to worship such deities known as ‘Ardhanarishwar”. In the Puranas, Lord Shiva became attracted to Lord Vishnu who had assumed a feminine form (Mohini) and spills his semen on the rocks, leading to the birth of Lord Ayyappa. Being abandoned by his parents, Lord Ayyappa became celibate and went to live his life as a recluse.
After the advent of Muslim rule in India, Islamic morality on homosexuality was coerced on the people. As per Sharia, homosexuality was an unpardonable offence. Fatwa- E- Alamgiri mandated death by stoning a homosexual Muslim and beating up a homosexual Muslim. The condition of LGBTQ people worsened under Christian rule. In Portuguese India, homosexuals and sodomizers were executed in the Goa Inquisition. In British India, homosexuality was forbidden under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, 1861. Influential native landlords and rich people, in order to get closer to the rulers, adapted this Victorian morality and forced heavy punishments on homosexuals.
The 1970s and 1980s witnessed the rise of seminal LGBTQ literature by Shakuntala Devi, Kamala Suraiyya, etc. Films and TV shows were also made on LGBTQ topics and many LGBTQ people rose to top posts. The religious Right began to oppose such steps and opposed the Delhi High Court decriminalization of homosexuality in 2009 and was exhilarated when the Supreme Court banned homosexuality and declared it as a punishable offence. Finally, the Supreme Court reversed this decision in the Navtej Singh Johar vs Union of India case in 2018 and also asked the Centre to recognize the LGBTQ people as the ‘third sex’.
In India, Hindu shastras have never spoken about the criminalization of homosexuality. We must shed our homophobia inculcated from Abrahamic morality and culture and remain true to our nature. While LGBTQ people always had a high position in our Shastras, today they have been pushed to the margins and live on the edge of society. It is our dharma to rehabilitate them, give them reservations and help them to re-establish themselves. That is the least we can do for them and only then will the celebration of Pride Month be a success in reality by the illumination of the lives and the times of our LGBTQ brethren.
About the author: Sauro Dasgupta is pursuing his Bachelor’s degree in Political Science with a specialization in International Relations at Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India.7 He is interested in reading, writing, public speaking, History, Politics and Strategic Affairs.
About the author: Sauro Dasgupta is pursuing an undergraduate student at the Department of International Relations, Jadavpur University.
