[Reader-list] BT: Happy to be Gay - ARK responds to RSS Chief K Sudarshan

[Nitin Karani]

Happy to be gay
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/743201.cms

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ THURSDAY, JUNE 17, 2004 01:39:42 AM ]

Activist Ashok Row Kavi responds to RSS chief K Sudarshan's barbs
against the gay community

Dear Mr. Sudarshan,
Though I am not a Sanghi, I am a faithful Hindu. I therefore appeal
to you to stop targeting the lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgendered (LGBT) communities as a foreign lifestyle issue.

If you read the Vedas, the Puranas and the Itihaasas, you'll find
that LGBT communities existed even then. There are over 10 genders
of males mentioned in our sacred literature; there are more
sophisticated definitions than in any other civilisation, whereas
the West only had binary definitions like homosexual and
heterosexual. It was only in India that we recognised and cherished
different kinds of sexualities as valid. LGBT identities were never
brushed under the carpet.

Homosexuals were never stoned to death or even persecuted in Hindu
India or even in the worst days of Aurangzeb, the Mughal bigot. It
is only with the advent of the British, during their brutal Raj,
that homosexuality was criminalised under Section 377 of the Indian
Penal Code. This law was ironically enacted by Lord Macaulay and
comes from Leviticus in the St James' Bible. So you see, hatred for
homosexuals (homophobia) is not a Hindu tradition.

Finally, HIV is spread by unprotected sex and has nothing to do with
homosexuality. In India, the highest risk factor for women to get
HIV-infected is being married to men. It is our lesbian sisters who
are possibly the safest because they rarely spread HIV.

LGBT communities are already under great pressure from society, even
as we modernise. With families breaking up and single people still
not recognised as family units, we have no place to go or support
systems. We are just emerging from the darkness to find a place as
equals in society. We are not interested in anything but to survive
with dignity within Indian society. Neither do we claim special
privileges or affirmative action. But we'll never accept second-
class citizenship and be pushed into the darkness again. If need be,
we'll fight you. I plead with you to stop this campaign.

Ashok Row Kavi
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