Humans are placed higher on the scale of intelligence than most animals. Hence, each one of us as an individual being has the right to freewill and expression. India as a democracy puts umpteen emphasis on individual rights and duties. ‘Equality for all’ is our primary motive. But is it so in practice?

Recently in the state of California homosexual marriages were legalized. The Queen Gay Parade in Delhi in June was the first of its kind in India. A large group consisting of Human Rights and Sex Freedom activists marched on the streets of Delhi to protest against Article 377 which makes homosexuality in India a criminal offence amounting to life imprisonment. This incident has again brought this issue in the limelight.

The first time I heard of Article 377, it was at the age of 15 and even then I was appalled by the injustice. The land of Radha-Krishna and the likes of Meera condemned another kind of love. Homosexuality is not just sexual attraction but is a normal condition of love where one feels emotions of love and attachment towards the same sex. It has been scientifically proven that homosexuality is a condition of the brain. The lack of grey matter in the brain in females and similarity of a male brain to a female leads to attraction towards the same sex. Animals too show this kind of behavior. Normalcy is nothing but a phenomenon defined by the majority in a society conditioned over decades. So does that mean the minority can be categorized as ‘abnormal?’ Forget about categorizing it but criminalizing something that is biologically possible is ignorance and foolishness. Making it an offence means asking a certain part of the population not to love and depriving them from exercising the most primitive and essential part of human senses leading to frustration of sexual energies. Now, that is definitely a crime towards a fellow human being.

Illegalizing homosexuality also leads to practice of unsafe sex and as a result sexually transmitted diseases are spread. AIDS has now reached the levels of global epidemic and to fight it we have to look at its’ root causes. Lack of awareness amongst people is the key problem here and what makes it worse is incorrect and illogical information. With movies like ‘Girlfriend’ being aired various myths propagated include- homosexuality is a mental illness leading from torturous incidents like child abuse and is followed by aggression. This is completely untrue. Sanity and insanity have got nothing to do with ones sexual inclination. And if it were so then after the cash-for-vote case in the parliament our ‘sane’ politicians would soon be termed ‘abnormal’.

What our society needs is to face the reality and adapt itself to numerous changes occurring worldwide. To be part of the free world is to actually make it free from the shackles of old norms and values.

Why condemn people when their actions do not harm us directly or indirectly.

Swati Goyal

(3 votes, average: 4.33 out of 5)

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