To practically everyone around us, homosexuality is a mental illness that cannot be treated. Homosexuals are always looked down upon as if they were aliens from another planet, but they’re never treated with the respect that they are entitled to as fellow humans. People treat homosexuality as abnormality, which is the shame of our Indian system, in contrast to the west, where homosexuality is not seen as a taboo or abnormal behaviour, but rather as a very normal behaviour; after all, every human being has the right to life and personal liberty, so choosing one’s sexual orientation is entirely up to them.
The American Psychological Association has been calling for psychologists to take the lead in eradicating the stigma of mental illness that has long been linked with lesbian, gay, and bisexual orientations since 1975. Psychology is concerned with people’s well-being and, as a result, with risks to that well-being. People who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual have been found to suffer from negative psychological impacts as a result of discrimination and prejudice. It is critical to have a thorough understanding of the concept of sexual orientation in order to comprehend the history of homosexuality. An enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attraction to men, women, or both sexes is referred to as sexual preference.It also relates to a person’s notion of self as a result of these attractions, behavioural reactions, and membership in a group of people who share those attractions. Sexual preference can range from exclusive attraction to the opposite sex to exclusive attraction to the same sex, according to research conducted over several decades. However, sexual preference is usually divided into three categories: heterosexuals (having sentiments, romantic, or sexual feelings for people of the opposite sex), homosexuals (dealing with emotional, romantic, or sexual feelings for people of the same sex), and bisexuals (having emotional, romantic, or sexual feelings for people of the same sex) (having sentiments, romantic or sexual attractions to both men and women).
Although homosexuality has been a part of the culture since the dawn of civilization, it is nevertheless stigmatised, looked down upon, and regarded as a foreign concept. The narrative of Avikshita, a monarch who refused to marry because he thought he was a woman, is told in the “Markandeya Purana.” Teeja and Beeja’s storey is still told in Rajasthani tradition. Teeja and Beeja, two women, are unintentionally betrothed in marriage by their dad in a brilliantly created version by VijaidanDetha. (Beeja is raised as a male and married to Teeja as a “man”; they are happy together until Teeja advises that she dress as a woman again.). They pray to friendly ghosts after being driven out by the locals, and Beeja is transformed into a man. Teeja, however, despises her new husband’s bullying and flees, despite the fact that this metamorphosis is more socially acceptable. The narrative concludes with the two ladies living together as women in the woods with the ghosts, secure from the villagers). For her subtle representation of the relationship between two women, IsmatChugtai’s “Lihaf” (The Quilt) was the subject of an obscenity trail in the 1940s. Contemporary Indian writers did not pick up where Chughtai left off until much later, in the 1980s and 1990s. “MitrachiGhoshta,” a Marathi play by Vijay Tendulkar, was innovative in the 1980s because it included a lesbian protagonist—though it had a tragically conservative ending by today’s standards, with the protagonist committing suicide out of despair. Mr. Seth’s verse poem “The Golden Gate” contrasted two California pairs, John and Liz and Phil and ED, who were each attempting to find their path to love in neatly twisted rhymes.
Homosexual tendencies were looked down on and controlled after the arrival of the Aryans in 1500 B.C. and the establishment of the patriarchal system of the society. Links to the same appear in the Manusmriti, which mentions punishment for homosexual behaviour, implying that the Brahmins preached and prescribed the requirement of forced heterosexuality. Puritanical ideals, which saw expression of sexuality as sinful or devilish, arrived with the British raj.
India is a democracy with, despite its imperfections, reasonably good human rights obligations in the text of the law, guaranteed to citizens as constitutional guarantees and frequently enforced by a diligent higher judiciary. India enjoys a well-deserved positive reputation in the world community as a result of this. Sadly, the state’s excellent name permits it to get away with violating human rights, such as persecuting and supporting the oppression of sexual minorities on its soil. India is exempt from detailed scrutiny on this point due to its illustrious reputation. In order to keep its good name, India frequently pays lip respect to accepted international human rights principles. However, in the case of sexual minorities, its practise frequently falls short of its promises.For example, when India developed its national AIDS prevention policy and tasked the National Aids Control Organization (NACO) with putting it into action, it made work with MSM a focused and targeted intervention area.
Social norms, tradition, custom, or culture, according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, cannot be used to prevent a person from expressing his fundamental and constitutional rights. There would have been no progressive laws established in our country if we accepted the rationale offered to us by cultural ideas, public policy, and societal values, which are used to restrict a person’s right. Despite the fact that sati, dowry, child marriage, and infanticide are all culturally based traditions, the government has taken attempts to prevent them.
It is our nature to emphasis differences rather than see commonalities, which is why God’s diversity in creation is avoided, feared, and despised rather than adored. Society has devolved into a manifestation of our dislikes and disagreements, and while we say that we don’t judge or disagree with those differences, society does, and we follow suit. A darkness that refuses to let the light of day in has no cure.
Aishwarya Says:
I have always been against Glorifying Over Work and therefore, in the year 2021, I have decided to launch this campaign “Balancing Life”and talk about this wrong practice, that we have been following since last few years. I will be talking to and interviewing around 1 lakh people in the coming 2021 and publish their interview regarding their opinion on glamourising Over Work.
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In the year 2021, we wrote about 1000 Inspirational Women In India, in the year 2022, we would be featuring 5000 Start Up Stories.