SEXUAL MINORITIES

There were two incidents some forty years ago in my native town in Tamil Nadu. One involved a deeply spiritual person who came down from a highly respected and renowned Ashram in the South. He used to conduct devotional bhajans. Everyone in the town spoke highly of his spiritual fervour. But to the surprise of everyone, he disappeared one fine morning. No one reported theft or abduction or some such criminal act. The mystery was solved a few days later when it came to light that he tried to indulge in what we now call “sexual diversity” or “alternate sex” with a teenage boy and the boy threatened to spill the beans. Unable to face the society with such an ignominy, the Ashramite ran away.

The second incident related to a temple “Paricharaka” (cook who prepares Prasadam for the deity and the devotees who was caught on the holy precinct itself while performing “oral sex” (what we now call “deep throat”) on a poor and a somewhat mentally challenged person. The cook was not only removed from temple duties, but excommunicated from the society for a shortwhile.

There is a reason for me to recall these incidents now. I am just trying to compare these incidents with what happened a couple of days ago in all the important towns in our country. We were told it was a celebration of sexual diversity. It was also called “Queer Pride Parade”. There were flags with rainbow colours, participants were wearing beautiful masks holding placards with slogans like “Proud to be Queers” “Give us the right to live, love and exist”. The group developed an acronym as well – LGBT – Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgender – and they wanted to be known as “Sexual minorities”. Since “minorities” in this country are more equal than others, they perhaps wanted to have this tag. After religious minorities, linguistic minorities we now have an addition of another minority group based on the sexual preferences. We will examine after a couple of paras where this can lead to. But the point here is what was considered a social stigma some half-a-century ago has become a cause for celebration coming out of the closet as they are and parading their sexual preferences or if we may put it, perversions. This is nothing but an attempt to legitimise a social stigma making permissiveness as a sign of progressiveness.

Within a few days of the parade came, as if on cue, the Delhi High Court judgement which struck down Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. This makes sex with the same gender, I mean consensual sex, no longer an offence. What is baffling is that no one is reported to have been punished under this Act of 19th century (atleast there is no data available) and then, why this loud protest against an Act which was never invoked, but remained a dead law in the statute book. Everyone knows that such sexual perverts do exist in society from time immemorial and Sikandi of Mahabharata fame was a transgender. The State did not interfere with their sexual preferences so long as it was a private affair. Obviously, legal harassment is not one of the reasons. Because some Western countries have made gay marriages legal and gave respectability to the sexual perversion, “progressive” elements in our own society must have thought if we have to be on par with the West, we must also respect “alternate sex”.
Not surprisingly, the LGBT has received enthusiastic support from the media and the intellectual class. Like “secularism”, it has become fashionable to champion the cause of “sexual perverts”. Let me quote some of the headlines of editorials in English dailies. “Don’t dither on Sec 377”, “Reform that is long overdue”, “State should keep out of people’s religious and private lives”. After all, even Barack Obama promised the full spectrum of equal rights to LGBT Americans. For a change, the Indian Left is on the bandwagon of the US President in legitimising unnatural sex.

A question is asked by the supporters of gay sex, as to who decides what is natural and what is not. By the way, what is a sexual act? According to age old definition, it is “joining of the sexual organs of a male and a female in which the erect penis of the male is inserted into the vagina of the female, usually with the ejaculation of semen into the vagina”. May be, religious fundamentalists would say any sexual intercourse should be for the purpose of procreation. But the fact is, it is only the humans who have perfected this biological necessity as a means for pleasure while animals do not indulge in it for pleasure except for chimpanzees and dolphins. Otherwise, Vatsyayana would not have ventured to do a treatise on Kama Sutra.

When we say “alternate sex” we imply that it is something different from the normally accepted definition of sexual act. Anal sex or rubbing together the genitals of the same gender cannot be considered a normal sexual act. Yes, we do have people whose DNA dictates such a perversion and it is a fact of life. That does not mean it should be paraded. Perversion is prevalent in all walks of life. Take for example, compulsive womanisers or who commit adultery or those who fornicate, or those who sodomise or the paedophiles. Some abnormality in their genes makes them commit such perverse acts. Adultery is an offence though it also comes under consensual sex. Fornication is also consensual, but religion, especially Church is opposed to it. Should adulterers, sodomites and paedophiles form into another sexual minority group seeking equal fundamental rights? One may argue that sodomy is not consensual though there is not much of a difference in the sexual act itself. In a society nearly 30% of which is living below poverty line, it is not difficult to buy “consensus” for sodomy. Are we going to legitimise it?

Talking of fundamental rights, is there any discrimination against the LGBT in terms of education, employment, or freedom of speech, freedom of movement or freedom of religion etc? Every freedom has a reasonable restriction. Freedom of movement does not enable us to move around naked on the streets because it offends the sensibilities of co-citizens, whereas you can be in your birthday suit within the four walls of your house. Art 14 (equality before law) is not applicable in such cases where your act militates against protection of public health and socially accepted morals. It has been proved that anal sex, pleasure point of LGBT, is a sure recipe for HIV/AIDS. How can such a group invoke Art 14? Since gay sex is only an aberration, let there not be any harassment against them. They are also entitled to proper treatment in case they contract dreaded diseases. But, let us not allow them to celebrate their perversion.