In this Pride month of June, let's throw some light on a topic which is being spoken in every nook and corner of this planet! LGBTQ Let's start with the basics. What is LGBTQ?? Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender And Queer/Questioning - Who is uncertain about their orientation June is Pride month to commemorate Stonewall riots from 1969. Its an annual month-long observance of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, transgender history.
LGBTQ in India In Urban India from the past 2-3 years, the acceptance of LGBTQ has increased more than ever. The social media, twitter threads and LGBTQ communities are getting popular in big cities helping many individuals to come out. But, most LGBTQ people don’t come up openly about their orientation as they are afraid about acceptance, discrimination, and worry that families and relatives might still see homosexuality as a shameful thing even in big cities. They remain silent, force themselves to fit into mainstream society, end up marrying the opposite sex, and remain unhappy. In Rural India both acceptance and awareness is a far dream. There are stories where people get mocked, loose their jobs, loose families and are also deprived of proper medical care when they come up openly about their sexual orientation. We all say this in loud voices that we are getting technologically advanced and adopting a modern lifestyle. We also believe that our thought process is getting better and we as 21st-century millennials are taking a toll on stereotypes and re-thinking on conservative values and throwing light on orthodox religious tabus. However, most of us are still not completely aware of LGBTQ, and have issues talking about it, or still can't completely accept if someone we know has a different sexual orientation. Firstly to believe that someone is born as LGBTQ itself is difficult for everybody who is not any of it. Because we all studied biology and it said for a long time that the combination of genes can result in either male or female. But there are limitations to medical science to prove a few things. All it takes is to trust and respect fellow humans on how they feel about their feelings and bodies! For the western world, LGBTQ might be a very modernised concept, but for our country, it is part of ancient mythology. let's take some time to appreciate what ancient Indian mythology tells about LGBTQ. The existence of God or any other Mythical characters is a different argument, but isn't it amazing that there were characters in ancient writings about how normal LGBTQ was??
Indian mythology and LGBTQ In the 21st century, we might have labeled the different sexual orientations under LGBTQ but ancient Indian mythology has stories and descriptions about sexual orientations other than male and female. The mythological stories re-written by several authors, the translations from Sanskrit and other factors might have changed the contexts, and might not be the same as modernised concepts of LGBTQ but the stories clearly intend that different sexual orientations are natural, joyful, and not to be ashamed of. Our Mythology has always believed that an individual has strong elements of both male and female within. Concepts like Ardhanaishwara which depicts ‘’Totality that lies beyond duality’’ and our Deities changing their genders for the Greater cause were always considered noble and we worship them for their good deeds. There are well-known stories of Vishnu taking Mohini avatar and Arjuna taking the Brihanala avatar. There are sculptures depicting the same-sex relationships in many temples of including the famous Khajuraho. Shikandi is the daughter of King Drupada played a major role in Mahabharata. She was born female but grew up to be a man. King Drupada even married her to a princess after which Shikandi changes the gender (physically) with the help of Yaksha and leads a great marriage life with wife and children! Varuna and Mithra are two gods who are known for their intimate male-male relationship. Mithra controls the oceans and seas while Varuna controls rivers and lakes. In the Vedic literature, they are depicted together riding a Shark or a crocodile, it is also said that they had children Agastya and Vashistha with Urvashi like the modern day’s Gay couples who follow surrogacy to have children! Bhagiratha who bought Ganga river to earth is said to have two mothers who were in love. He was named Bhagiratha which means born to two women (two Bhagas). The history treats it as miraculous birth, a part of the story is untold however the purity of the two Queen’s relationship with each other is honored by the Gods themselves. Agni is the god of fire and creativity. It is said that he was married to a female partner Svaha and a Male partner Soma (Moon god). Soma and Agni are said to sustain together and carry forward our daily aspects of life. These are only a very few stories out of many from the ancient history of this country. All these stories sound very normal because they were written seamlessly with a lot of dignity, it was never mentioned that things like this are unnatural or that there is something alien about these characters. We always respected these stories from Mahabharata, Ramayana, and all the other epics. Is that just because the characters were God? As a matter of fact, Homosexuality was never illegal or criminal offense in India until the British. During British rule, the laws were enacted and it was criminalized. However, in Sep 2018 Supreme Court decriminalized the same. Think of people who feel differently, they already have mental stress on their sexual orientation and we as a society do not accept them as equals adding up to stress their mental health even more.
What can we do? Simple things!!! Be it your best friend, sibling, relative, cousin, your own children or an acquaintance from work, ensure you make them comfortable to speak with you. Simple things can make them feel less stressed and goes a long way! Be a good listener (even if you have a different opinion): Empathy can change things, it can change the way one feels about themselves. It can make one feel valued and gives a sense that they are not alone Try to understand their point of view: Widen your views!! Yes, we have so many perceptions and misconceptions. Understand things from the other side. What is to be L/G/B/T or Q. Am sure after this understanding, we'll realize that humans are all the same from inside. Support and Speaking up: Support is the least we could do to fellow humans. Let's support them fight for their rights, let's support in humanity and speak up to people who mock them or who look down upon them. Let's respect Humans as Humans and never create an environment where humans are sorry for their identity!! Am sure the world will be a better place if humans stood for humans and not wait for some superpower to act upon things.
