Media in India, apart from supporting the LGBT behaviour, actual equates it with Love , glamorize , and promote it.
Regional TV channels and Magazines have started glorifying this, with real life stories and Struggle of these people.
This is cost of being educated and being liberated.
I am under the mistaken impression that Education is to elevate Human beings and separate them from ……..
When, as rejoinder people stat retorting the Human values like natural Behavior( The ask you define Natural Behavior!), loyalty,Marriage as Sacred,
Honesty, commitment, , well they have decided to give a decent burial for Value system(What are values?), that’s it.
‘I am lucky to have found her’
“Since Sex is difficult to legislate,Love is the Casualty”
(I am under the false impression that Sex is a part of Love and not the other way around!)
‘We don’t let other people’s opinions affect us’
My maid has a clue about it”
Sonal and Jaanu( Femina issue dated February 19, 1014, page 52)
Sheer and Chris.
” We are more concerned about our jobs. We don’t know how Top Management will react” Page 54.
The same coverage for Men who happened to be Gay. page 56)
“It is entirely possible that this very original suggestion may find takers among MPs and religious figures agitated by the Delhi High Court’s judgement to de-criminalise gay sex between consenting adults over the age of 21. That the private conduct of two responsible adults should not be the business of the state — unless it jeopardises national security and public health or constitutes a fraud — has long been recognised as a tenet of personal freedom. Carnal relations involving the same sex may well be against the laws of nature and, therefore, ‘unnatural’. But there is nothing in the act that corresponds to the common sense definition of criminality. If voluntary gay sex is deemed criminal, the law may as well attach the tag of criminality to adultery — a move that could result in considerable discomfiture to some of those who are most indignant about the High Court decision.”
-Swapan Das Gupta.
Indian Lesbian Wedding.
See more at www.StephGrantPhotography.com I have been anticipating this wedding for years now! Shannon & Seema are special to me and I am honored that they chose me to be their wedding photographer. I flew into Los Angeles a few hours before the wedding festivities began. I was greeted by a house full of friends, family and a lot of laughter. It was going to be an exciting day. Beautiful Indian culture, stunning brides & style for miles! Couldn’t ask for more. I have photographed Indian weddings before and I have photographed gay and lesbian weddings before, but never have I ever shot an Indian lesbian wedding. WOW. My heart! There was so much love that consumed the SmogShoppe that evening. Friends and family came pouring in with smiles, hugs and tears… these two are clearly loved and in love. I am writing this blog a month after the wedding and I am proud to say that so much progress has been made in our country with the Supreme Court striking down #DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) and Prop 8 in California! Love wins. ALWAYS. Congrats Shannon & Seema. Love you guys!
Sometime back I posted an article on the views of Hinduism on LGBT.
The post received good response and many with this issue have written to me saying that th post helped them mentally.
Yet members of some communities i Facebook of which I am a member, felt that these issues are in bad taste and some communities have even removed the post.
Hinduism is a way of Life.
India Corporate Policy for LGBT.
It does not feel shy of addressing real issues of Life.
It understands the nature of Humans including their frailties and try to offer solutions.
By adopting an Ostrich like attitude, one faces on certain issues, much more serious issues later that would arise because of this.
Problems are to be addressed to and not wished away, thinking that if we do not think about them , it would disappear.
There is this attitude of taking no decision, a modern western concept of course,justifying that the problem would solve itself.
True, but the solution need not be to our liking and at times may even harmful.
I have not taken the trouble of finding statistics of LGBT in India, ,especially Community wise.
It is likely to be incorrect as this is a sensitive and too personal an issue to be divulged.
Strength in numbers does not diminish the gravity of the problem.
About a year back two issues of m friends were referred to me, regarding their family problem, so sensitive the could not discuss with their relatives.
Well, you do not discuss sensitive issues with relatives, only with friends who have no stakes.
My friend’s son((34)got married to a girl from an orthodox family.
The boy is well settled and the girl was very nice, working in a MNC.
The girl was a Lesbian.
This, she disclosed to her husband, after a couple of days of marriage to her husband.
This she told him that she was had been scared to inform her parents and she had a girl friend from US.
The boy wrestled with this problem and he informed me.
Many among the younger generation , boys and girls,open up with me about intimate problems, though , b age , I am like their Father.
I took up the issue very gingerly with the girl first and later with the Boy’s parents.
It took some time for m friend to come back to normalcy.
I informed him, he was very orthodox, that this an accident of Nature and one should ensure that two lives are not ruined.
Our Religious texts inform us these problems and suggest we take appropriate action to ensure that no one is affected.
He came around.
After discussing the issue with the girl’s parents,a Divorce b mutual consent was organised( the reason as disclosed in Camera in the Family Court).
The Boy is married again, after disclosing the details to the would be bride and her parents.
The Boy’s first wife came from US and corroborated the facts to the would be bride and her parents.
The boy is happily married and has a son.
A similar case was in respect of Gay.
Here the marriage was stopped.
Elders should not wish away the problem.
It is tricky in Hindu communities, notwithstanding the elopement in many a case.
Children still are respectful for their parents and are shy of discussing their intimate problems.
It would be prudent , before arranging marriage, boys and girls, talk to them and wherever necessary , get to know their friends and get information very discreetly.
This would help a lot of problems that might arise later.
This applies to issues concerning Transvestites as well .
Yellamma, the Birth of Lord Ayyapa.Lord Muruga are indicative of what is now termed as Normal Sexual Behavior.
In most cases it is explained that one takes the Form of he other sex,like Bruhannala, or Lord Krishna becomes a woman .
All said and done there is evidence that Hinduism did not treat this a s Deviant Behavior, it was not condescending towards them nor were they extended special privileges.
These were not ostracized by the society,nor were they looked upon condescendingly.
Rigveda says regarding Samsara that Vikruti Evam Prakriti (perversity/diversity is what nature is all about, or, what seems un-natural is also natural), which some scholars believe recognizes the cyclical constancy of homosexual/transsexual dimensions of human life, like all forms of universal diversities.[38] People of a third gender (tritiya-prakriti), not fully men nor women, are mentioned here and there throughout Hindu texts such as the Puranas but are not specifically defined. In general they are portrayed as effeminate men, often cowardly, and with no desire for women. Modern readers often draw parallels between these and modern stereotypes of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendersexual identities.
However some Smritis censure them,like Manu, though ot severely.
They took part in all Vedic activities , they were not prohibited from Religious or Spiritual activity.
However the Vishnu Puran says hat the Eunuchs should not be present when one is performing Sradha.
So, Hinduism does not treat LGBT as Deviants, not dos it treat them with special privileges.
When looking at Human Nature and Facts Hinduism never flinches, ducks the issue or offer some farfetched justification.
For Hinduism things are They Are
Such is the greatness of Hinduism it accepts Nature as it is without delivering Value judgements on what is essentially a natural Phenomenon.
On Gays:
The Sangam literature on the Friendship between Pari and Kabilar says it is more than a friendship, clearly indication Homosexuality.
““For instance, the friendship between King Pari and poet Kabilar is shown as something more than just friendship. There are lyrical undertones suggestive of the intimate relationship they had. But since there are no explicit representation, one can only postulate a possibility.[65]”
Although Hindu society does not formally acknowledge sexuality between men, it formally acknowledges and gives space to sexuality between men and third genders as a variation of male-female sex (i.e., a part of heterosexuality, rather than homosexuality, if analysed in Western terms). In fact, Hijras, Alis, Kotis, etc.— the various forms of third gender that exist in India today— are all characterized by the gender role of having receptive anal and oral sex with men. Sexuality between men (as distinct from third genders) has nevertheless thrived, mostly unspoken, informally, within men’s spaces, without being seen as ‘different’ in the way its seen in the West.[4] As in other non-Western cultures, it is considered more or less a universal aspect of manhood, even if not socially desirable. It is the effeminate male sexuality for men (or for women) which is seen as ‘different,’ and differently categorised. Men often refer to their sexual play with each other as ‘masti.’[5]”
”
Mathematician Shakuntala Devi, in her 1977 book, The World of Homosexuals, interviewed Srinivasa Raghavachariar, head priest of the Srirangam temple. He said that same-sex lovers must have been cross-sex lovers in a former life. The sex may change but the soul retains its attachments, hence the love impels these souls towards one another. In 2002, I interviewed a Shaiva priest who performed the marriage of two women; he told me that, having studied Hindu scriptures, he had concluded, “Marriage is a union of spirits, and the spirit is not male or female.”
As Amara Dasa, a Krishna devotee and founder of Gay and Lesbian Vaishnava Association (GALVA), notes in his recent book, Tritiya-Prakriti: People of the Third Sex, several Gaudiya Vaishnava authorities emphasize that since everyone passes through various forms, genders and species in a series of lives, we should not judge each other by the material body but view everyone equally on a spiritual plane, and be compassionate as God is.
Gay activist Ashok Row Kavi recounts that when he was studying at the Ramakrishna Mission, a monk told him the Mission was not a place to run away from himself, and that he should live boldly, ignoring social prejudice. Row Kavi went on to found the Indian gay magazine Bombay Dost. In 2004, Hindu right-wing leader K. Sudarshan denounced homosexuality. Row Kavi, identifying himself as “a faithful Hindu,” wrote an open letter to Sudarshan in the press. He asked Sudarshan to read ancient Hindu texts, and noted that modern homophobia is a Western import”.
Ancient Hindu law books, from the first century onwards, categorize ayoni (non-vaginal sex) as impure. But penances prescribed for same-sex acts are very light compared to penances for some types of heterosexual misconduct, such as adultery and rape. The Manusmriti exhorts a man who has sex with a man or a woman in a cart pulled by a cow, or in water or by day to bathe with his clothes on (11.174). The Arthashastra imposes a minor fine on a man who has ayoni sex (4.13.236). Modern commentators misread the Manusmriti’s severe punishment of a woman’s manual penetration of a virgin (8.369-70) as anti-lesbian bias. In fact, the punishment is exactly the same for either a man (8.367) or a woman who does this act, and is related not to the partners’ genders but to the virgin’s loss of virginity and marriageable status. The Manusmriti does not mention a woman penetrating a non-virgin woman, and the Arthashastra prescribes a negligible fine for this act. The sacred epics and the Puranas (fourth to fourteenth-century compendia of devotional stories) contradict the law books; they depict Gods, sages, and heroes springing from ayoni sex. Unlike sodomy, ayoni sex never became a major topic of debate or an unspeakable crime. There is no evidence of anyone in India ever having been executed for same-sex relations.”
Lesbianism.
There are other ancient Hindu/Sanskrit texts that refer to homosexuality. The Sushruta Samhita, for example, a highly respected Hindu medical text dating back to at least 600 B.C., mentions two different types of homosexual men (kumbhika – men who take the passive role in anal sex; and asekya – men who devour the semen of other men) as well as transgenders (sandha – men with the qualities, behavior and speech of women). It also states that men who behave like women, or women who behave like men, are determined as such at the time of their conception in the womb. (SS 3.2.42–43)[54] The Sushruta Samhita also mentions the possibility of two women uniting and becoming pregnant as a result of the mingling of their sexual fluids. It states that the child born of such a union will be “boneless.” Such a birth is indeed described in the Krittivasa Ramayana of Bengal ”
The Kama Sutra also refers to svairini, who are “independent women who frequent their own kind or others” (2.8.26) — or, in another passage: “the liberated woman, or svairini, is one who refuses a husband and has relations in her own home or in other houses” (6.6.50). In a famous commentary on the Kama Sutra from the 12th century, Jayamangala, explains: “A woman known for her independence, with no sexual bars, and acting as she wishes, is called svairini. She makes love with her own kind. She strokes her partner at the point of union, which she kisses.” (Jayamangala on Kama Sutra 2.8.13). The various practices of lesbians are described in detail within the Second Part, Eighth Chapter of the Kama Sutra”
When Jason Dottley and his husband ended their marriage last year, neither bothered to hire a lawyer because the couple agreed they had nothing to fight over.
“Lawyers are what you get when things get difficult,” Dottley figured.
He had no idea just how difficult getting a same-sex divorce would be.
Dottley, an actor and singer, filed for divorce in April 2012 in California, where the court system was unfamiliar with how to handle his case. He eventually sought an attorney’s advice after growing frustrated with the numerous delays.
“The lawyer I hired really couldn’t offer much help,” he said. “His advice was basically, you can either keep plugging away or you can pay me to plug away, but until the courts figure out what they’re doing, I can’t speed this along for you any more than you can.”
It’s a story familiar to a growing number of same-sex couples, even as the gay community continues to celebrate the Supreme Court’s decision in June to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act. Many hope the ruling will encourage more states to legalize gay marriage, which is currently only legal in 13 states as well as the District of Columbia.
In happier times: Dottley and his former husband, Del Shores, in 2010.
But because gay marriage is relatively new — Massachusetts became the first state to legalize it in 2004 — same-sex couples trying to get divorced have found their attempts come with high price tags and other expensive sacrifices in the few states even willing to grant them.
“Gay and lesbian couples have had to be pioneers,” said Susan Sommer, director of constitutional litigation for Lambda Legal, an advocacy group devoted to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender legal issues. “Until things get familiar, even in states like New York, where same-sex couples can .
The Verma Committee on Crime against Women , in its report has rightly concluded that the identities of the Rape need protection.
Another point comes to my mind.
Nobody approves a Rape much less a one which involves gang Rape as in the case of Jyoti Singh Pandey a.k.a Nirbhaya, Delhi.
(By the way, as one of my readers pointed out how is it that Jyoti has two surnames?)
The rape accused have been arrested.
Under Law none is guilty, unless proved”
The media have been flashing the accused’s names with regularity and in fact they have already completed the trial.
What if they are proved ‘not guilty?”
Is it not proper to afford them the secrecy of their identities?
In a frenzy one should not forget the basics of law,otherwise this will be taken as a precedent for the later cases.
( Ram Singh, the bus driver, and his brother, Mukesh Singh, were both arrested in Rajasthan. Vinay Sharma, an assistant gym instructor, was arrested in Delhi,[41] as was Pawan Gupta, a fruit seller. A juvenile whose name has yet to be confirmed, though he has been referred as Raju a 17 years and 8 month oldminor[44] and native of Uttar Pradesh was arrested by the police at Anand Vihar terminal in Delhi. And, Akshay Thakur, a man who had gone from Bihar to Delhi seeking work, was arrested inAurangabad in Bihar(wiki))
The Verma committee goes on to make some profound observations.
Verma Committee on Rape
”
“If human rights of freedom mean anything, India cannot deny the citizens the right to be different. The state must not use oppressive and repressive labelling of despised sexuality. Thus, the right to sexual orientation is a human right guaranteed by the fundamental principles of equality.
Pointing out that we need to remember that the founding fathers of our Constitution never thought that the Constitution is a “mirror of perverse social discrimination,” the report says, on the contrary, it promised the mirror in which equality will be reflected brightly. “Thus, all sexual minorities, including transgender communities, are entitled to be totally protected.”
“We must also recognise that our society has the need to recognise different sexual orientations as a human reality. In addition to homosexuality, bisexuality, and lesbianism, there also exists the transgender community. “In view of the lack of scientific understanding of the different variations of orientation, even advanced societies have had to first declassify ‘homosexuality’ from being a mental disorder and now it is understood as a triangular development and neurological underpinning owing to genetic reasons,” said the report.
Suggesting that correct knowledge must be disseminated in respect of sexuality and sexual choices without enforcing gender stereotypes, the report says children need to be able to access informed, non-prejudiced sources on sexuality. Challenging the perception of sexuality as being purely heterosexual is an ongoing agenda for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender activism and for counter-socialisation efforts. “Collaborating or networking LGBT activists is a beginning to understanding different sexuality experiences,” Justice Verma says in his report.
Recommending the use of theatrical resources and films in school workshops, which has proven to be extremely effective in gauging gender relations, the panel calls for the use of such audio-visual material to encourage respect and understanding for all genders and sexes.
What does The Committee want to convey?
1.Homosexuality along with Lesbianism, has to be guaranteed by The Constitution .
2.’Raping,Gang Raping,Sodomy,Public Exposure, Pedophilia belong to ‘sexual orientation ‘ and Sexual Minority?
So, The Constitution has to approve of it?
What does the media have to do?
To high light more of the lurid details on-screen and print?
I reiterate that Rape is a vile Crime /along with Kidnapping and has to be dealt with severely but one should exercise caution in arriving at conclusions before the trail is complete.
You must be logged in to post a comment.