The Millennials: Guidebook to PRIDE
India can't claim to be an equal and free country when a section of the society is ostracised for their sexual orientation. Through this video, The Millennials appeal to your logos and ethos to challenge the intolerance and ignorance towards the LGBTQ community.
In recent times, we've turned a blind eye towards the truth about India's culture, bent reality to shame people for a natural act. For years on end, India had been glorified for kamasutra, yet, today, we use the same religious texts to outlaw homosexuality and others a part of the LGBTQ+ community when in fact, you only need to read the Kama sutra and see the various references to gay/lesbian sex and look at the temples and their architectures. When our very own culture proclaims sex and homosexuality as a natural act, then why should this group of people be seen as 'sinners' or 'mentally ill'. What right does the government have to term it as an 'unnatural act'?
It is truly shocking that just because people choose to love someone of their own gender or wish to identify with the genders they weren't born with, they are disrespected in the so called 'liberal Indian society'. But are we truly 'liberal' in its true sense when we can't even accept people for who they are and deny them the right to be free and their right of choice.
In 2009, adult consensual homosexual relations was decriminalised in the Indian Penal Code. This ruling by the Delhi High Court was seen as a landmark in the Indian gay rights movement. However, it was reintroduced in December 2013, reinstating Section 377 of the Indian penal code re-criminalising homosexual beings
Same-sex marriages are still recognised. However, there was one case of a court in Gurgaon, Haryana recognising a lesbian marriage in 2011.
Transgendered people are locally known as "hijras". They have their own sub-culture and identity within Indian society and live in communities organised around a guru who they consider to be a leader. Many members of the hijra community are forced to work as sex workers.
Despite everything, in the past few years with the coming of the internet generation, India is on a slow yet steady path to coming to terms and accepting just the idea of homosexuality. With the recent coming out of Prince Manvender Singh Gohlil, a pioneer and role model in the LGBTQ+ community, and the Pride marches held every year in the month of November, there is a new ray of hope for India to finally realise the true meaning of liberal.