Is India's stand on LGBT still not clear?

Is India's stand on LGBT still not clear?

Introduction:

India has once again shown double standards when it supported Russia along with Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, China, Iran and few other countries against United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-Moon's decision to give equal benefits to same sex partners of UN staff. The new rule called for giving the same benefits to staffs with same sex partners irrespective of whether or not their host country approves of bisexuals. Russia got supports from 43 other nations including India but 80 countries opposed Russia's claim and the law was passed. Ban Ki-Moon kept his promise of giving recognition to all same sex marriages of UN staffs but left behind is a question on India's stand on LGBT which has received recognition in our country but it seems the government is yet to accept them, forget about people accepting them.

Yes, it is still unclear

1. India has yet to accept that being gay or homosexual or lesbian is natural and not a crime. We still have anti-gay law under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code that criminalises homosexuality. In his visit to India, Ban Ki-Moon had emphasised that it is a matter of human rights and human dignity. When are we going to start being tolerant and accept that a person natural sexual status is not a matter of biasness.

2. Even after having received worldwide recognition, they are attacked and not much have been done to stop this. Now by supporting a biased appeal by Russia, India has once again shown to its countrymen and to the rest of the world that there still lingers doubts on their acceptance.

3. Russia is the country that decriminalized homosexuality but soon after imposed a ban on gay propaganda. The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power said that what Russia tried to do is "diminish the authority of the U.N. Secretary-General and export to the U.N. its domestic hostility to LGBT rights." India being a part of Russia's resolution is simply because it supports approach on LGBT.

4. Criminalizing LGBT is directly against human rights and just when activists and citizens alike were fighting for a change in the act that criminalized same sex marriages, India took an unthoughtful decision to stand by Russia and other countries that condemn the bisexuality. Is this the direction where India is treading? Backward and orthodox is the picture that we are presenting of ourselves in front of the entire world.

5. Maharashtra’s Health Minister Dr Deepak Sawant from the Shiv Sena proved that our approach is still lacking understanding. He said that lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender were in need of psychological treatment and counselling. Being transgender, according to our Health Minister is a disorder that he can cure with psychological treatment. Some serious enlightenment is his need to be exact.

6. Rituparna Borah, a feminist activist, a prominent member of the Delhi Pride Committee describes our government's ideologies well: "What more can we expect from this right-wing facist regime? Every new day comes with the news of the violation of someone’s right; why else will we have bans on beef consumption and the vandalising of churches? This government will only serve the upper class, upper caste rich India. It will not stand for minorities of any colour."

7. Homophobia was clearly shown when the new censor board muted the word 'lesbian' in the film Dum Laga Ke Haisha. This came just after the list of cuss words to be banned was released. So the censor board thinks that lesbian is an abusive word too. When further probed they said it was bad because the movie showed a child saying the word.

No, it is clear

1. The support India extended to Russia is just on grounds of principals and to propagate anti-gay rights. The government officials clarified that the reason for India’s vote was that the decision to extend the benefit was taken by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon of his own accord and without consultations with member States. This was authoritative of the GS and India stood against it not the LGBT community on the whole.

2. It cannot be ignored that India had abstained from voting on a previous resolution against LGBT discrimination that was passed by the UNGA in September 2014. This time it was about sovereignty issues that led India to support Russia. This need not be connected with India's approach on LGBT which has been clear for some time.

3. Maharashtra's Health Minister's comment was regarding spread of HIV in LGBT community and the approach of people on this matter. For this reason he mentioned psychological treatment and this was turned into a wholly different concept.

Conclusion:

India's stand with Russia might have displeased human rights activists and LGBT community along with normal people who support them but officials have clarified that it was not meant to spread anti gay propaganda at all and just to ensure sovereignty and authority is well justified when decisions are taken at United Nations. However, India could remove the confusion by getting rid of the anti-gay law and the law that criminalizes same sex marriage. Doubts on the stand of the government will be raised until it is clarified that the government provides proper recognition to the community.