Homosexuals, Homophobics and the Current Situation

There has been a lot of progress in terms of upliftment and rights of the LGBTQ community in recent years. All over the world, they are being emancipated from not being able to live as they want, from not being able to express themselves and their true identity. The matter is not subjective but there is still significant opposition to the idea of letting people marry or love as non-conventional couples. What are the arguments of both of these sides you may ask?

On one hand we have those infected with the “Gay disease” and anyone stupid enough to support such vermin. They want LGBTQs have the same rights as other humans, be able to marry and love freely, and not be discriminated against. How dare they? Who in their right minds would give ‘them’ actual human rights? They aren’t humans. There’s nothing human in their behaviour! Even if Homo sapiens and Homo-Sexual may suggest the contrary. Who needs science anyway? Not the contemporary world apparently.

On the other hand, we have people, mostly blind of the book, blessed by God and the only ones worthy enough to interpret what god says. According to them, God did not make people “queers” by birth and hence LGBTQs should be customary to long lasting culture. In their words, they just want to rid the land of this disease and heal the people under the shackles of this widespread disease. The most effective way is to bash them with a big giant book of your nearest favorite religious teachings. The biggest opposition they have is to ‘their’ marriages. We can’t let the vermin breed, who knows what kind of monsters they will conceive? The devil’s sons all of them! It’s too risky to let them near kids or adopt them. Now that the world is being more “tolerant,” whatever that means, we can’t kill ‘them’ on a spit-roast publicly like before. How will we teach our children to do the same with them? On a side note, I am not using the word gay because it is seen as too pejorative by the community whose argument I am displaying.

Now the government’s side on this is that “we really don’t want to lose votes from any side so we’re just gonna be as slow as possible in any implementation of laws.” Of course, you can’t blame them, in a developing country of over a billion plus, our politicians have a lot more important work to do like drinking chai, visiting Astrologers and taking the odd trip to Bangkok all while turning a blind eye to all the hate the LGBTQ community gets for no apparent reason in the Indian context. All the more reason why we don’t have something such as an “anti-discrimination law” because how can we legally force Indians not to discriminate? Its absurd, unthinkable even! We even stopped a bill on transgender rights from even coming into discussion! It’ll make half of the sitting MPs very uncomfortable of course and they truly do matter more than the common homosexual.

Satire aside, it really is a problem in the world and in our country on how homosexuals are treated. Just the fact that it needs to be written that homosexuals deserve to be treated as humans too with respect, individuality and franchise itself says a lot about human society. The progress has been slow, in the implementation of laws and most definitely in the changing of mindset of the people. It is the acceptance of the people and the changing of their mindset is what really matters because laws mean nothing without the people’s acceptance to follow them. After reading both the sides and the supposedly neutral side, but we all know which side they are on (p.s.- it’s the votes), I think we can make up our minds on what we side with, morality or repression. I have made my mind and I can be sure you have made yours’ too. 

SITUATION OF LGBTQ IN INDIA: SUFFERING OR PRIDE?

                                  

The current situation in India, is like a nightmare. The Covid-19 situation, the crisis period, the insecurity, the fear of being tested positive for corona virus, lack of awareness and education, exploitation of forced-labor, children, girls etc. All this adds up to more than a well of troubles. The worst affected are the daily-wage workers, girls, poor, middle class, and the LGBT community. Out of these if we talk about not even able to get access to any facility, is the LGBT community.

The LGBT community has suffered beyond our imagination, and still not even able to come out of it. During this pandemic, and crisis the LGBT community has seen the darkest side of the world, where they can’t even have access to education, health care, jobs and employment. The society has neglected and ignored the LGBT community, as if their existence is opposed by the God. People have no idea what the LGBT community have seen in their lives and what will come in distant future. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender are struggling majorly because of the stigma and superstition in the society, and nothing else. People here in this country do not realize the pain of others, they just inject pain as much as possible.

What we all see is just the upper layer or the roof top, we haven’t seen the bitter reality of the conditions in which the LGBT community live. Hence, its high time to just criticize and think, it’s time to initiate plans and take actions to assist LGBT community and other people as well to come out of such issues.

LET'S CEASE HOMOBHOBIA - KNOW HOW?

  We have always been exposed to certain gender signifiers regarding colors, piercings, hair length, body building and the list goes on. We tend to always assign a color to femininity and masculinity, namely pink and blue. How often you come across people gifting dolls to little boys? These created norms the society has bound us with since a very early stage seem to have made us reluctant to accept the people that we see not following them. In terms of awareness we may appear to be ascending but in terms of practical approach, we descend. While giving the LGBTQ+ community legal rights we push them forward but rise in hate crime rate push them down. Protests, rallies for dignity in society seems to uplift them but rigidity in terms of feminine and masculine plunges it down. Willingness to post about LGBTQ awareness shows open-mindedness  but reluctance to allow them part of your social group proves the intolerance. Accepting everyone has freedom to express themselves in the way that they want is aflame but to be weirded out by cross dressing is shame. 

Every person regardless of the fact to which religion they belong, what ideals the believe in, what choice they prefer, what section of the society they belong to and which ever gender/race/sexuality they belong to have the right to be treated human but still honor killings, prejudice, bullying, rapes, marginalization, social exclusion still prevail in our society with the ratio in rural areas being more than in urban areas, people tend to look down upon them as they are not "normal" but how can someone define normal as being normal is highly subjective. What you consider normal may not be normal to someone else and everyone should respect that but not harass them for being different. People consider being part of LGBTQ community as socially and biological unacceptable, a mental disorder ,a disease, a 'phase' that one will eventually get over but it's high time we realize that these conventional and orthodox views are long gone and that it is toxic and highly erroneous to still support them.

All of us in some ways make efforts no matter how small can help increase LGBTQ+ dignity and awareness. To stop bullying, to speak against homophobia, to not use offensive slurs against them, to educate the uneducated and try to change the boundaries of the conventional society can be of great impact. How others treat someone is who they are but how we react is who we are and we must act on what is right no matter if the majority follow the wrong. Being aware regarding the genders, pronouns and sexualities is in welfare of us as a whole. To do the least, let's accept everyone and respect them. How difficult can it be to treat people with kindness or just not to look upon them as a disgrace? Let us all give in our effort to create a society where nobody needs coming out videos to show who they are.

Note: The following article has been written by Avni Singh and published at Kanpur Wallah by senior executive, Pallakshi Pandiya.

Perceived Media Gap: The Growth of GODI Media

This article addresses the major concerns related to growing incompetency of today's media. It is very worrisome that India dropped off to 142nd position in World Press Freedom Index, 2020. This article tries to highlight different areas of problem and also strives to come up with remedies. 

Fourth pillar of democracy, Media, is on the verge of epidemic malady. Oh well, this is not the fact which is left untouched, quite possibly every attentive individual may be getting this notion. But this article may bring to you the other side of this defect which is owing its origin from the debris of degrading media. As rightly marked by David Sarnoff that, "Competition brings out the best in product but worst in people", and what we are witnessing is rear end of this phrase. In the race of bringing the news first unto the viewers, the Media is loosing its objectivity. In the contestation to meet their rapacious appetite what Media is doing is tampering with evidences. Media hitherto was working for the good of Nation but at present it is working to enlist maximum possible expediency. What is worst but noteworthy is that there exists a venture in which the State and the Media collaborate to make people ignorant and heedless about the real happenings. 

What Media should really does is opinion making. And there is no problem in that until the personal opinion doesn't intrude. If the happenings around nation is fed as real as it is then there is no objections, but it comes under the contempt when others' considerations are imposed over people. People shall always have the reliable, quantifiable, precise and accurate content to manufacture their opinions. Any mala fide on the side of content creator will certainly have impact on the getter. And this deficiency surely lead to the lapse of imperative obligation which Media swear-in. A vow which have embodied the greater good of mass should never be rendered deception. 

There had been many attempts to put some reasonable regulations and limitations over Media through many legislations but all gone into vain. To name some of the post-independent regulations are - Young Person's(Harmful Publications)Act, 1956; Press Council of India Act, 1965; Cable Television Regulation Act, 1995. But none of them had that potency which was needed to restrict the foul acts of paid news and nexus with political parties, corporates and other such entities. None of the them were capable in keeping the decency, morality and ethics of Media intact.

Benjamin Disraeli had quoted appropriately that, "When men are pure, laws are useless; when men are corrupt, laws are broken".

Mistakes were made on both sides, by State and Media. But this does not mean that we should persist in those mistakes. Government, Media and Citizen should collaboratively strive to secure the very end for which they are meant and that is to get everyone out of misery and distress, alongside securing a decent well-being of people. And here I see that in his famous rhetoric piece 'tryst with destiny' our maiden Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, marked it rightly that, "The ambition of the greatest man of our generation has been to wipe every tear from every eye. That may be beyond us, but as long as there are tears and sufferings, so long our work will not be over."   

                                                  

Media should always be dispassionate. It serves as a link between state and its individuals and any default in this will surely channelize its way into delayed misery, which would be lethal. Media should always subserve its goal, which is to transmit the needs of the individuals to authorities, which on their turn needed to make endeavors for realization and accomplishment of that very need. Media is entrusted with the task of harbinger, and this harbinger needs to be neutral for the healthy play of democracy and any omission in this task would be considered deceitful. We are often called biggest democracy of world but this end shall remain unaccomplished until we comprehend that democracy is mere the play of numbers rather it is of mature contemplation. Well the process of getting media rid-off the errors is not scanty task, it will take its own course of time. But what we have to ensure is that the initiation and perpetual march toward our aim should never by hampered by any impediment. This process will be a steady one as no revolution has turned out overnight.

DRAGON'S TRIANGLE - THE NEW BERMUDA TRIANGE

The whole world is aware of the Bermuda Triangle which is in the North Atlantic Ocean and touches U.S.A. and Canada. It’s a mystery, because the planes and ships get attracted towards the surface of the sea and crashes. But a new place which touches Japan in the Pacific Ocean has been discovered. It has been given the name Dragon’ Triangle or Devil’ sea. There also the same thing happens. It was first identified when a Japanese Ship which was sailing there, suddenly got disappeared from the radar. It was later being found that the ship was crashed. It happened with helicopter also crashed into the sea. As Japan is so rich and developed, it wanted to know what was happening there. A team of researchers, divers and engineers was sent there to study the place. But it was the last journey of the team, while returning their ship broke into pieces. Japan paid a high price, but still it wanted to know about the science of the place. It once again sent a team, but this time there were only divers and a few scientists who would just dive and go underwater to see. The Japanese Government ordered them just go to around the borders of the triangle and come back. The team was given four hours to complete the research. They found strange monuments on the sea bed, more over they experienced time dilation because they took approximately eight hours to come back, but according to them it took only four hours only for them to complete their research. When the Japanese scientists started their study it was being found that the gravitational pull of the earth at that triangular place was high. Also the Bermuda triangle is parallel to the Dragon’s Triangle which divides the earth into two equal halves. Both are located at the center of the earth.

(This article has been sent by Ashutosh Bhushan, a student of Delhi Public School Kalyanpur, Kanpur)

INVESTMENT IN INDIA - BOON OR BANE?

An investment in a developing country (like India) is must for its economic growth. It could be foreign or natives. A foreign investment is an investment in a form of a controlling business in mutual consent with government. Presently India is known as the most important player in the global economy. Initially China was a manufacturing hub but due the outbreak of COVID-19 the big companies started pulling off their set ups and that time India appeared a promising land to them. Rather many international companies on request of the Indian government visited many places in India, and the best example is Tesla. Foreign investments bring economic growth to the country and also enhance the employment. They are more or less impressed by the ways and policies of the government in handling their own native investors who are the backbone of the country. But in these recent days we came to know about Mr. Adar Poona Walla, CEO of SII (serum institute of India) biggest vaccine manufacturer in the world. He had done so much for the country in its toughest time in 2019 when COVID-19 first appeared in India. He came up with lifesaving indigenous vaccine and its allocation is totally under central governments hand he cannot distribute vaccine on his own. But to his dismay he got threatening calls from the riches and goons demanding vaccine unethically. This immense pressure made him flew to London to save his life. Didn’t he feel secure in his own country? Probably yes! This entire incidence was narrated by Mr.Poonawalla to a journalist in London. The question here is how the foreign investors would ever believe our system and policies, how would they feel protected when our very own tycoon has left India and is coming up with a new set up in another company. Are we demeaning our own image by setting an example like this? 

"WHEN YOU RESPECT YOURSELF, THEN OTHERS WILL ALSO RESPECT YOU."

We should always follow this mantra to be successful.

This article has been submitted by:-

Vaanya Meherda – VII Grade

MGD School, Jaipur