A scene from a TV show I saw a few months back
Channel: VH1
Characters: Chris Adams(American Idol 2009 ), Adam Lambert (runners up) and the VH1 show anchor.
Location: Studio in the US of A
Topic of discussion : The life of the idols beyond the TV show
Somewhere along the conversation a specific part catches my attention
Anchor to Adam : Is it true you have a crush on Chris ?
Adam(puts his arm around chris’s shoulder) : Yes, He is a handsome man..
Chris (just gives one of his heartbreaking cute smiles)
Camera man adds a fake twinkle in Chris white teeth and conversation goes on to discuss how Adam was glad he made his sexual preference clear while the show was still on air. The show ends and is a success for the channel, viewer level is high, the singers shake hands and life goes on for all….
Now picture the same scene happening in India.
Will such a scene get away with no ‘aftermath’?
Will such a scene get away without the church (and the church I refer to is not restricted to any religion) quoting quotations from the holiest books on how hell is reserved for ‘un-natural’ sex doers?
Will such a scene get away without the news channels flooding their ‘breaking news’ with ‘Gay Idol ‘ strewn all over them?
Personally I’ll have to say that maybe we will reach that stage at some point, but not in the near future.
Yes hail the country for rewriting Section 377 and keeping the Homosexual hope of an equal life alive. I will not exaggerate on the change cause I know that even though the ‘outcast’ criminal tag is off legally, I know life will not be all smooth sailing for them.
Every age or every generation comes with their own controversy, and for this generation homosexuality is a highlight. Not that I say that it din’t exist way before the Indus valley civilization days, but never has it been this much of a public song nor has the Indian society been challenged to accept it to the level of normalcy as it is today.
Let’s be honest with ourselves, are we totally comfortable with the same-sex concept?
Well if I was to answer that question I’ll say ‘Yes’, but with my own clause, and that would be that I’m totally cool with it as long as it doesn’t directly effect me. Now this directly effecting me could range from a lesbian making an indecent pass at me or my son coming up to me and proclaiming that he wanted to marry ‘Adam’. Now though most ‘unorthodox’ people wouldn’t admit this is where they all stand .
Off late suddenly every tom, Dick and Harriet is screaming ‘yay Section 377’ or ‘yuck Section 377’. With the recent change to that little law rule we are all going to see one thing for sure, and that is more and more people coming out of the closet, and the society handles it is one thing I’d like to see.
Homosexuality is going to be the new ‘generation gap marriage issue’. Now when the present generation accepts inter-caste, inter-religion, inter-country marriages, the gay and lesbian ones are going to be the unexpected challenge for them. How the church and temples with deal with this I don’t know, but they better gear themselves with more than just quotes, preachers and threats.
The Indian society will definitely have to see a lot of tears, hear a lot of curses, suffer a lot of heartbreaks, ignore a lot of ‘traditions’ , witness a lot of suicides over the gay issue. But change is inevitable and I guess someday all the aunties and uncles around will have to accept this new reality with a straight face. Maybe for all you know we could have new education and job reservations for the LGBT community and their kids.
The Indian mind will evolve for sure. The 1st time I heard of the very homo concept(I was barely 10) it seemed pretty weird to me, but with time the ignorance was removed and now though I am not one to vouch for the community, I’m one to say ‘You don’t know what they feel, so please shut and stop cursing them’. Today if my best friend suddenly realized she wasn’t straight or my colleague revealed he was gay I would not wince or call them queer.
So I hope and pray that so will the Indian society embraces homosexual relationships.
As for me if one day my son does proclaim that he want s to marry Adam and I loss the controversy battle all I can say is ‘I was expecting an Eve but I’ll try not to make a fuss about Adam’ ,and them keep praying everyday that my daughter does not bring home the ‘Eve’.
PS: The references are purely imaginary, I have no son or daughter now and my best friend is very very straight.
