Dear Editor,
This is in response to your editorial, “Historic Verdict” (September 7, 2018). The Supreme Court of India must be congratulated for decriminalising homosexuality between consenting adults by declaring section 377 of the IPC as “manifestly arbitrary”. The Supreme Court very rightly observed, “Majoritarianism views and popular morality could not dictate constitutional rights.”
The historic verdict says, “ I am what I am. So take as I am. No one can escape from their individuality.” Indeed, a man with a bald head or a woman with grey hair must hold their head high without any kind of shame, doubt and inferiority complex. Let them celebrate what they are. It will be injustice if society puts pressure on them to wear a wig or to apply hair dye to join the mainstream.
Similarly, we need to admit that homosexuality is neither a choice nor an abnormality. It is a reality that has been existing across cultures and even throughout the animal kingdom. We do not clearly know the exact cause of someone becoming straight, gay or something in between. But the theory of gene or heredity does not stand as most identical twins of gay people are straight.
In the world of VIBGYOR (Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Red) rainbow diversity, we are to treat LGBTQIA+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender/ Transsexual, Queer/ Questioning, Intersex, Asexual/ Allies) as normal. There is no room for majoritarianism.
We know that twin babies are normal. But as they are not common, therefore the birth of twins has been viewed with fear and suspicion in many parts of the world. The Akha tribes inhabiting China and Southeast Asia think of twins as a bad omen – wherein evil spirits could interfere in matters. The Akha kill them immediately after birth although the practice is discouraged by governments. Bob and Mike Bryan and Mark and Steve Waugh are fortunate enough that they were not born into those people.
However, our attitude towards LGBTQIA+ is somewhat similar to that of Akha tribes inasmuch as our inability to accept a less common phenomenon like homosexuality as normal. As a matter of fact, majoritarianism is itself a disease. Neither the birth of a twin nor homosexuality nor any language can never ever be viewed as an illness. Rather to see it in such a way clearly manifests a majoritarian illness.
Some people argue homosexuality, lesbian and gay sex are western concepts and they have no place in Indian traditional life in our society. But this is utterly divorced from reality. Homosexual activities have been depicted in temple imagery, sacred narratives and religious scriptures. Lesbian sex has been highlighted in the walls of Modhera Sun temple and gay sex acts have been sculpted for public display at the Lakshmana temple in Khajuraho. Homosexuality is a reality that has been existing all over the world for ages.
It is often argued that same sex marriage is against nature as it cannot produce offspring. But this is a bad logic. Sometimes, a very old straight single person marries her or his contemporary opposite gender to overcome loneliness and not at all to become a parent. Thus, we see that even straight marriages may not be always for producing children.
Be that as it may, it is better not to disturb two consenting adults so long as they do not infringe other’s right.
Yours,
Sujit De,
Kolkata