Let’s start with the basics. What is meant by Homosexuality and Heterosexuality in terms of Indian Teachings and much revered Scriptures? Simply said, any person who had a lack of desire for the opposite sex, were considered ‘the third gender’ by the Vedas. This third gender was clearly accepted as a part of the society without any discrimination. Of course, the terms used today are too refined to be used at those times, so they resorted to an assortment of terms like ‘hijra’ and ‘kinnar’ , quite a lot of which are used today as well, though mostly as slurs. So, what did Hinduism preach and how is it that belonging to a third gender is now ‘unacceptable’? If you have heard of the Rig Veda, you know that it is considered an utmost holy scripture, which speaks of two celestials Varuna and Mitra, who were a ‘same sex couple’(both were males), and not only that, they also managed to conceive children! I will leave the scientific part of figuring how that happened, out to you, nevertheless, they did and King Bhagirathi who achieved supernatural feats (apparently he brought the river Ganges to Earth, from Heaven) was also the child of two widowed women. Ever heard a Politician named Mahesh Sharma, say: “I worship Ramayana and I think it is a historical document. People who think it is fiction are absolutely wrong”? He also protested against the Supreme Court’s decision on the decriminalization of homosexuality, even though, Hanuman (a god in Ramayana) when in Lanka noticed several women in carnal fashion, both demonic and human. Once again all this is mythical, so what about the times where we can get proof besides written text?
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| LGBTQ+ FLAG |
Homosexuality may be considered as a new ideology amongst the minds of today’s population, but in reality, one can simply take a look at some shrines built during the twelfth to fourteenth century, such as those at Puri in Orissa or Tanjore in Kerala, which often depict a range of sculptures and statues ranging from “affectionate” hugging to romanticized glances between women, to men outright exposing themselves to each other, all of which suggests a queer intent across the subcontinent, which has been a subject of immense interest, since it is open to endless interpretations to historians in modernity.
So, despite vivid mention of sexual fluidity across Hindu Literature or architecture, why is belonging to LGBTQ+ community considered such an aberration today? Now instead of such historic references, let us come to the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, where the term ‘homosexuality’ came to be used in Europe. Europeans considered a person who chose desire over the innate purpose of propagation of bloodlines as ‘criminal’ and ‘vile’. Similarly, the practices where men and women were not indulgent with members of the opposite sex, and rather felt an attraction among their own gender was deemed ‘unnatural’. In this case, the West perverted (here, distorted) the laws of their imperial colonies, and when they came to India, they passed the anti-sodomy law, disrupting the beliefs of the country’s population. Then, to say transgenderism today is part of the “western culture”, would be wrong. After British rulers passed the anti-sodomy law, many educated Indian social reformers and nationalists began to express a new aversion to what was a part of their, including polytheism, and sex outside marriage, including same-sex relationships. It also became unacceptable to write about same-sex relations in “polite literature”, throughout the first-half of the 20th century. After the culture of the country was twisted beyond recognition, the claims of queerness now became immoral. In reality, queerness was always our culture, and history is an account of it. Nevertheless, most communities continue to be unwelcoming of LGBTQ+ people, often reflecting attitudes imported from colonial times. It reveals how we have forgotten ancient Indian heritage of recognizing and accommodating queer sexualities, and have submitted to “Victorian morality”. This colonization of the mind was reflected in IPC Section 377 that saw non-heterosexual non-procreative sex as ‘against the order of nature’. This outdated law was finally struck down by the Supreme Court on 6 September 2018.
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| ANCIENT INDIAN CULTURE |
The deism of Hinduism is fluid, where Gods changed forms from Rocks, to Rivers to men to women to hermaphrodites (saguna), and sometimes became formless (nirguna). Hinduism should not be misunderstood as an anti-passion religion, as choosing to pursue one’s desires does not make them any less spiritual or sinful. The verdict in 2018 was highly overdue, since it led us to give up simply controlling someone else, restricting their freedom and refusing to understand the diversity that is our culture.
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| COUNTRIES WHERE HOMOSEXUALITY IS ILLEGAL |
Hopefully, one day Families will realize the value of someone’s sexuality rather than constrict it and understand there are several ways to life and to love, which need not fit the traditional norms. We all appreciate Tim Cook, the openly gay CEO of Apple, singers like Halsey and actors like Ellen Page, or television hosts such as Ellen deGeneres and in the future, we must refrain from denying employment, education, healthcare, and most importantly, love, to anyone based on their identity. Hopefully people will recognize the simple fact that if you ARE gender-fluid, you will always be gender-fluid. At the least, we can be allies, supporting and creating a safe space for the third gender in our world. Our choice of action can be either rooted in love, or hatred. That is in our choice, and both ignorance and exclusion, are not love.
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