Lgbtq community and the struggles they face
India, more commonly known as the Indian subcontinent, is a land of diversity and freedom of speech where religious freedom, human rights and LGBT (Lesbigay, Lesbigay, or queer) rights are respected. And in the world of social media, there lives a queer community whose struggles are not acknowledged because the mainstream media doesn’t understand the nuances of their existence.
India is an exceptionally diverse country with the largest Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu communities living side by side. It is a land full of opportunities for the LGBT community as social media is the main source of information in most parts of India. Social media websites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat are the main sources of news and information for LGBT community people whose stories are not often told because they are ignored or labeled as a non-issue.
There are many struggles faced by gay community members in India because of social in acceptance of LGBT and the stigma and negativity associated with these communities. The recent judgment by the Supreme Court to criminalize homosexual acts, where the court has deemed it as an unnatural act, is a big setback to the queer community of India. The judgment has not only failed to protect the rights of the community but instead it has given them many more issues to tackle. This means that any other kind of crime, including being gay, is punishable under the law. The LGBT people and LGBTQs continue to face oppression because of their sexuality in India. It is therefore crucial to understand the socio-cultural conditions that lead to discrimination, ignorance and violence.
It is a fact that many gay people have been attacked in the last 6 to 8 years, especially in Mumbai, and they are being killed,” said a youth from Mumbai who identified himself as Raju. Even those who managed the brave the streets of various cities, found it hard to walk in crowds without encountering hatred against themselves and their community, while those few brave enough to openly declare their sexuality came to confront social discrimination and to have to fight for their right to live freely. Most gay men are afraid of coming out and live in fear of not only receiving verbal and physical abuse but also of becoming a target of HIV. There is widespread denial about homosexuality in India on account of the stigma surrounding the issue; even among gays themselves, there are various opinions on how best to combat the homophobia and how to cope with the issues encountered. So far there has been no discussion on the subject, but the need for it is becoming increasingly clear.
The state of homosexuality today in India is one of the most complicated, with marriage being at the heart of the matter. Homosexuality is still looked down upon, with most people believing that homosexuality leads to promiscuity when, in reality, most homosexuals are not promiscuous. Traditionally, homosexuality is seen as an abomination, with the government declaring it illegal in 1954. India is a place where people have very strong morals, and where the majority of the country’s people believe that homosexuality is shameful, inappropriate, and that “people who are born that way are perverts”.
Homosexuality is a difficult subject to tackle in a country like India, where not only homosexuality, but anything that is seen as “different” is seen as an “abomination”. It is a place where everything “abnormal” has a stigma attached to it. In spite of this, many LGBT people in India still struggle to come out of the closet and live everyday by their own standards, with marriage being one of the more critical difficulties. Homophobia continues to be a dominant force in the country, even within the country’s own queer community.
