L G B T Q I A - The Need To Accept Them As They Are

Though the section 377 of IPC has been decriminalised, there is still a long way to go for the Indian Society to accept these individuals. I too felt disgusted in their presence before, but with time I realised, they too, are humans and of course they bleed the same color of love despite the lack of the same love in their lives.

It had been just a couple of weeks after I had shifted to Ahmedabad to pursue my higher studies. My college was just a couple of kilometeres away from my PG and I used to wald down the road in the evening to go back home. I was heading back home and would have have like covered half a kilometer when I was approached by a person who offered me a lift. I refused. He said "You seem tired, go on I can give you a lift". I hesitantly agreed and sat behind him. On our way, the person told me that he had been living in Banagalore and Mumbai previously and there the culture for "gays" was completely different from other Indian cities especially Ahmedabad. I was a bit confused as to why is he talking about all of this stuff. He continued and said that he is a gay. I was shocked. Then he asked me whether or not did I support the LGBTQIA community. I lied and I said "Yes, I do". Probably he misunderstood and thought that I was a gay too and he asked me out. I somehow controlled my anger, got down the bike and told him to leave immediately. This incident left a very dark and deep impression on my mind for the people who belong to this community. I used to ignore any news relating to them and developed a hatred for them.

It was later in the year in the month of December that I got the opportunity to chair a committee in an MUN along with my friend on the same agenda. I read and studied a lot and figured of the injustice that prevailed and shadowed their existence into darkness. Being a theist, I figured of how this community has been present since ages in the relegious texts like the Ram-Charita Manas. I attended the MUN and came to know about them even more. It was during the MUN that I felt ashamed of myself of how could I even think about this particular community in such a way. It was then, that my outlook towards these people changed.

But still, in the narrow and broad streets of our country, the narrow-mindedness still prevails. I am optimistic that a time shall come when these people won't be recognised merely in the law-book as a "third gender" and hope that some day these people would be accepted as an equal in the society because Lord Rama has said:

Purush napunsak nari va jiv charachar koi / Sarv bhav bhaj kapat taji mohi param priy soi. (Any man, any transgender, any woman, any living being, as long as they give up deceit and come to me with love for all, they are dearest to me).