The long way to freedom for the LGBT Community
What makes us human and what differentiates the queers from human beings is a question that
has been challenged on various grounds in different nations. How can society justify biases
and hatred towards a particular community of people by denying their basic human rights?
The constitution of our nation has given fundamental rights to protect the dignity and
freedom of the masses. The fundamental rights are clearly provided to all individuals
irrespective of their caste, religions, creed. etc. The same has been embedded in the Preamble
of the Constitution where equality in terms of social, political and economical is signified as
the basic of the laws. On the other hand, for quite a long time a community has been
questioned and threatened for enforcing the same constitutional rights for one reason that
they have a different choice from the so called natural and mainstream behaviour expected
out of human beings. LGBT i, e. lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgenders were subjected as a
matter of shame and embarrassment for the family and society for quite a long time. This
community has to fight a long way and is still fighting this very battle to ensure that they
have their basic human rights which have been penned down in the very Constitution of the
nation.
Having a freedom of sexual orientation is denied on different occasions by the authorities,
families and society of the nation stating it to be unnatural and obscene. Calling it immoral,
unnatural and atrocious were a general remark for this community and their act of revolution
for this core freedom were brutally rejected with many heinous crimes in different parts of the
nation. There are even instances of mass killing of this community which portray the harsh
reality of society. In the infamous case of the Pulse Night shooting of Orlando, we get to see
the critical situation and status of a community for raising voice for those rights which are
inherently vested in them. They have been treated as laughing stock in different cultures.
Still, they have fought and won the initial legal battle of recognising their rights in our nation
with the landmark judgement of Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India but there are different
other levels of battles for this community to fight in order to sustain their life as human
beings in our society.
The second level of this battle is nonetheless the social acceptance of the identity and sexual
orientation of this community by family and society. Our nation is a heterogeneous mixture
of various cultures, languages and religions. Apart from these variations, there is a wide gap
in the mentality of the rural and urban India. This contrast in thinking, behaviors and
lifestyles all have influenced the attitude of the society towards the LGBT Community. After
winning the legal battles on this front, the LGBT community is still fighting their way to get a
normal social life like their other fellow beings. Different industries have accepted them with
open arms like the fashion industry but ironically the film industry with various commercials
and TV soaps still depicted them many a time as a subject of mockery only.
Even the economic situation of this community is also affected as people are still reluctant to
have them as employees, friends, colleagues in the workplace. For a long time, it was claimed
to be an ailment and others even claimed themselves to be able to cure the same. The act of
choosing a sexual partner and their gender is subjected as the platform for social and
economical acceptance of a person in our nation which is undoubtedly immaterial and
gibberish.
Having a sexual partner and choice of sexual orientation is a very intimate matter for a person
and criticizing or boycotting the same can never be justified. We can appreciate our legal
system to broaden this concept by criticizing the Victorian era model of law and considering
the modern thought process. This community has obviously suffered a lot in the past and
even have to fight battles for the most basic rights embedded in our Constitution, their
identity and orientation, but legal changes have strengthened their position in the nation.
We are still in the process of transforming our thoughts towards this community and with the
assistance of institutions and campaigns the same can be successfully achieved in a vast
country like India.
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