Taboo

L. G. B. T. Yes, I refer to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender. If you feel like ‘eww’, now is the time to navigate to some other page.

We are a perfect society. Aren’t we? And how do we remain perfect? – By neglecting those who aren’t normal. So, being normal makes one perfect. Oh really?

Pankaj was born and brought up as a boy. As he (she) grew, he (she) developed a desire for girl clothing. In teenage years when the boys in his (her) class were developing infatuation towards other girls, Pankaj felt attracted to another boy. When her family discovered this, they were devastated. Her father used to beat her for her sexual orientation. After running away from home and spending years in dance clubs, she finally got her break from humiliation and discrimination. She is Bobby Darling, the Bollywood actress. The life of Rose Venkatesan, the television celebrity, is a similar one.

With Western decadence such as live-in relationships, premarital sex and divorce slowly finding their feet in the Indian society, there is no explication for the already existing anomalies regarding sexual orientation.

A commuter of the Southern Railways is assured to encounter transgender groups clapping their hands and doing a form of forcible begging, preferably targeting the males. One is dumbfounded at the extent they go, to get the money. They might be labelled as ‘hindrance’ to the public, but, what other options have we left them? Most trans-people are born as boy children and recognize their sexuality later. When detected earlier these, children are discarded by the families and they end up in a society which is no better in treating them. 

Very few like the above mentioned, succeed in their struggle against discrimination, but, amongst the rest, cases like begging, suicides, violence are common.

A less affected group is the homosexual ones. Less affected doesn’t mean that the society has accepted them; it’s just that these people can hide their orientation. Homosexuality is a mental disorder, it is a choice made, it can be cured by therapists are some of the myths regarding this; and they are nothing more than myths. These people face isolation in the family as well as in the society. And there is also the issue of cross dressers.

The real biological cause that stimulates a person’s sexual orientation is not yet found, but it’s damn well sure that it’s not their voluntary preference. As put forward by a sexologist – ‘’Being a man or woman is not only related to a person’s private parts. Gender is a social construct/idea that involves how a person acts and relates to themselves and other people in a society.’’

The Indian government legalised lesbian and gay relationships in 2009. In a recent report they also announced provisions for including transgender people in voter’s list when they were denied guardianship by their parents. Further, a Supreme Court notice directs the government to include the category of transgender people as a third category in providing various opportunities and facilities such as the passport, driving licence, ration card and admission to educational institutions.

These are all welcome actions, but, none of these would have any real effect unless the society accepts them. Whatever their gender may be, they are real humans with real human feelings. Giving respectable terms for them alone is not going to help. The society need not do anything special for their betterment; let’s just refrain from discriminating them.

For those trans-people – Consider that being normal is just another excuse for being ordinary. Normal is a standard set by irrational minds; it need not necessarily mean ‘perfect’.

Swasthika Sang