Homophobia.

Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Transgenders together form up the LGBT community of the world. As of June 2018, there were 76 countries throughout the world where homosexuality is illegal. Most other countries who have legalized homosexuality are yet to legalize same sex marriages. India struck down parts of section 377 of the Indian Penal Code on 6th September, 2018, thereby making homosexuality legal in our country.

Legal or not, violence against homosexuals are not uncommon in almost all the countries of the world. Our world has normalized certain ways of behavior, certain gender roles and in that order, it had also normalized only a particular type of sexual orientation among the people. When a few members couldn't identify themselves with the normalized sexual orientations, the society automatically alienated them and subjected them to a number of hate crimes for decades together.

If you tend to belong to the LGBT community, you might as well be prepared to face every form of hate crimes in your daily life. It could be something as small as people judging you or it could be something as big as you being burnt alive with your partner, just because you don't fit in with the rest of the crowd. There have been reports that confirm that the most number of hate crimes in the world is targeted towards the LGBT community. There have been instances of people being beaten to death, publicly shamed when they're with their partner, and even been victims of honour killings by their own family members. Rape is used as a corrective measure to turn lesbian women into heterosexuals. Parents send their children to correction facilities and most others are sent out of their houses, just because they preferred to date their own gender over the opposite gender. Bullying and harassment accompanies these kids in school and some of them have been pushed to take their own lives because of all the mental torture. They are being physically abused in public and a huge number of them also go through depression.

Transgenders in India are still looked down upon by the common people. Though there has been progress in providing educational and employment opportunities for transgenders, there's still a long way to go before they're treated with equality and compassion.

We are at a necessity to form gender-inclusive spaces in our society and work towards accepting each other as human beings before asking them if they're gay or straight. Treat one another with respect and learn to appreciate differences rather than criminalizing them.