2 years, 1 month ago-
Many people are homophobic and the think that homosexuality is defect. And when we talk about cultures the hypocrites which actually convey the facts of our culture are actually just giving wrong information out and these are just misogynistic people making things up.
Talking about our Indian culture is very deep and logical. We have a legacy of all the things and facts that even scientists have accepted and a lot of information and ideas which should be propagated.
Now since we are talking about homosexuality , transgender people and so on we all know we hava huge legacy and history of it and traces and strong evidences of these concepts are still very efficiently carved on our historical places and temples and folk tales. We all know in all our scriptures and granthas there is at least one mention of transgender personality.
The first and the foremost and popular example is Ardh Naarinateshwara avtar of lord Shiva and mother Parvati which indicates us the existence of transgender people. We all know how this avtar looks like half Shiva and half Parvati.
Then next comes the other famous story of the birth of king Bhagiratha who brought Ganga maa on this land. It’s a very interesting tale. The father of Bhagirath had two wives but he died early and therefore the kingdom had no heir. That was when both the queens made love with each other and Baghiratha was born.
Now another example is of shikhandi from Mahabharata. We all know Shrikhandi was originally Shrikhandini but as Lord Bhishma had a boon so she to kill him Shikhandini went to receive manhood from
Sthunakarna for one night.
Now in Mahabharata one more transgender form is of Arjuna as kliba as he was cursed by Urvashi that he will be living as transgender for a year which actually turned out to be a boon .
Hence ao far these and more of tales are there who actually have transgender tales .Why is homosexuality against Indian culture?
Homosexuality is basically the attraction towards one’s own sex or gender. Although it is a widely known and recognized type of sexuality all over the world and people are well versed with it, India is yet to cope with it. India is famous for it’s culture and heritage but the society says homosexuality is against Indian culture. There is no proof or evidence that it really is, but its just the people talking in the name of ‘culture.’ It is also said homosexuality came to India as a disorder or disease when the British came to India. As far as it is concerned, I do not believe it to be any sort of a disease or mental disorder and a number of medical and psychiatric associations and organizations have agreed on the same. People in India are just afraid and doubtful of the society’s reaction to their actions in aspect of homosexuality which is why they all say it is against Indian culture, even though it is not. Where is it even written? Indians have also been attempting to ‘cure’ people of homosexuality through various psychological, emotional and physical and spiritual methods called the conversion therapy. That too has been proven by medical associations and organizations from all over the world to be ineffective and absolutely harmful as it leaves ill-effects and scars people, resulting into innumerable people taking their lives. As we say, “Love is love,” homosexuality is love too. Where does Indian culture say that love is wrong? It does not. In fact, opposite to that, Hindi scriptures and epics have spoken of non-heterosexual sexualities through a lot of characters in them. A lot of Hindu deities and heroes, also demons have showed bisexual, homosexual and transgender characteristics. Kama Sutra, the ancient text on sexuality, emotional life and eroticism has identified lesbian women and gay men, calling them ‘swarinis’ and ‘klibas’ respectively, stating that they would marry and raise children too. They were accepted and respected by the society back then. Also the sculptures in the Khajuraho temple in Madhya Pradesh are known to reflect homosexual imagery with enough clarity on the intimacy between homosexual couples, even more than just two in number sometimes, called polyamory. This clearly shows it is not against Indian culture as it is included in the Hindu scriptures and Vedas, making it pure and stating that it was widely accepted and respected by the society. If it could be respected back then, then why not anymore? We must stop demeaning and ostracizing homosexuality and homosexuals in the name of culture to drop a cover on our narrow-mindedness, lack of knowledge and stereotypicality. Homosexuals deserve acceptance and respect so they shall have it.
An ally and supporter,
Shubhangini ShaktawatIn the ancient period homosexuality was accepted it has reference in many mythological books, Thomas Macaulay introduced section of 377 act in Indian penal code, he made the punishable offense of oral sex and anal sex. Many Indian societies back then do not know about homosexuality and masturbation because it was not openly talked about it. It became the mindset of society that loving a same-sex person is not a part of our culture and it is also considered illegal they called it an imported disease. That’s why after decriminalizing section 377 still people are fearing to open about their sexual orientation because society will shame them. In Indian culture talking about sexual matters is a very niche topic but good some heterosexual people are opening to society and marrying same-sex people and bringing the change. Earlier families used to disown their child in fear of societal norms and culture, still, these people don’t get the respect they deserve. Slowly people will evolve and accept it but we have made it part of our culture. Earlier their many filmmakers try to make films on this thought but some people start protesting and they burn the film posters because it was against the culture, but now movies are made on this some people are fine with it and some are not, movies such as shubh mangal zyada sadhana , ek ladki ko dekha toh aisa laga , dostana etc. many political leaders also oppose this and impact of this there blind followers resort to doing wrong with heterosexual people. Now we can see heterosexuals are uploading their marriage pics on social handles and celebrating their wedding it is a good start but a long way to go.
In india still many people think homosexuality is unnatural and against culture. But people don’t know homosexuality is also accepted by ancient. Subramanian swami also fighting for LGBTQ+ rights is an ‘American game ‘ The strongest opposition to decriminalising homosexuality in india of being “against indian culture” but of we can see Kamasutra in the 4th century A.D mentioned physical pleasure in male – male in details, in 14th century A.D. bengal folklore tell the story of a sexual relationship between two widow, bhakti saints in medieval india would offensive themselves to worship Krishna & Shiva, nawabs in the court of awadh in the 18th century would wear clothes as women in certain festivals days, In the earlier 1800s indian poets like insha and rangin wroth freely about male-male relationship & female-female relationship. Ancient indian not only mention homosexuality but it also accepted. The rss leader arun Kumar said to media that ” GAYS & LESBIAN MARRIAGES IS NOT compatible with nature & it’s unnatural so we do not support this kind of relationship”. In India their are different types of culture and in every culture they portray different things about gay, lesbian, transgender. In our country people called gay with different name like ‘Kinner’ and ‘Hijra’. People used to abuse and talk bad about gay but, on the other side “Kinner” is treated as messenger of god like if any new baby is born they used to ask “Kinner” to come and give blessings to new born baby. And in festivals also people used to call “kinner” and give them money and ask them to give blessings. Their is one serial called as Shakti- Astitva ke ehsaas ki the show is about “kinner” through which some people are accepting homosexuality. People should start changing their mindset towards homosexuality and treat them equally like other gender because they deserve equal respect and opportunities from society.
A lot of ancient Indian texts and sculptures portray or have certain parts dedicated to homosexuality. Both the texts as well as the sculptures form a part of any culture, so instead of asking why homosexuality is against Indian culture, we should be asking is homosexuality against Indian culture?
The answer would be an easy no. Just go visit the Khajuraho temples and take a look at the sculptures there, many of them would be erotic sculptures of two men. If homosexuality is against Indian culture, how come sculptures on such a famous temple are portraying it? Indian culture is known for treating everything as it is. It doesn’t shy away from talking about topics such as sex which are widely regarded as taboos. Take Kamasutra for example, not only does this ancient Indian text talk about sex between men and women, it has a whole chapter dedicated to homosexuality. So how can we, the so called modern Indians have decided that homosexuality is against our culture? Because the evidence proves that it is simply not. It is just as normal as any other sexuality.
We got freedom from the British long ago, but apparently their mentality still stays with us, and this includes their stance on homosexuality. Criminalization of homosexual acts took place during the British rule, and we carried it with us till the landmark decision in 2018. And even after the decriminalization of homosexual acts between consenting adults by the court, the common people’s homophobia remains the same. A lot of homophobic Indians give the excuse that homosexuality is against Indian culture. But we need to ask them, is it really against our culture? Or has our ignorance and the influence of the British have blinded us so much that we cannot even see that our culture was never against homosexuality? Instead it is us, who have still remained colonized by the British after years and years of living under independence.
What is homosexuality? Homosexuality refers to the attraction between people who are of the same sex. It is a sexual orientation, as opposed to a gender identity such as male, female, and non-binary. People who are homosexual could refer to themselves as gay, lesbian, LGBTQ, queer, or a number of other terms. The most common synonym is “gay” or “lesbian.” Gay usually means a man being attracted to another man, while lesbian means a woman is attracted to another woman. Unfortunately, there is a lot of homophobia around the world. In India, there is a perception that homosexuality is a curse, our society has never acknowledged it as gender and always seen it as something awful and unfortunate, more like a curse. Homosexuality was such a big taboo that it was a crime to be homosexual in India. In India, homosexuality is considered against the culture. Why? Because it’s not a normal thing? It is very normal for those homosexual people and it’s very human. Just like men and women, homosexual people are humans too and they deserve equal love, respect and opportunities. The Supreme Court, in a landmark judgement on September 6, 2018, unanimously struck down part of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which criminalised gay sex, saying that it violated the constitutional right to equality and dignity. It was a huge step towards supporting homosexuality. Although people in India have still not accepted homosexuality as a normal gender and a human nature, things are changing for good. There is awareness and it’s only growing. Same-sex marriages are not legally recognised in India nor are same-sex couples offered limited rights such as a civil union or a domestic partnership. We have a long way to go. Let’s not forget that homosexuality is a human right and it’s normal.
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