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India’s Gay Pride
Several of the anthology contributors live in India. The LGBTQ issues and laws in the USA are slightly different from those in India. The struggles, the bullying, the discrimination, the hate crimes, the stigma, and the HIV problems are quite similar. However, some people may say that American gays have a slight advantage. When you step into the shoes of a LGBTQ person in India, you will learn that:
- there is no way to officially track the number of gays beaten, sexually assaulted and raped by police and there is no justice
- there are no landord/tenant courts to help gays who are evicted by landlords for being gay
- gays can be detained and “treated” with aversion therapy (electric shock) for their “mental disorder“
- some families abuse, disown, beat, and even kill gay family members
The good news is that gay sex is no longer a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison. There is a steady rise of gay rights and human rights organizations, activists and supporters who work diligently to improve circumstances for gays in India. Gays in India are constantly being challenged, but the population continues to gleam with gay pride.
The poems, letters, narratives, essays, and articles submitted by the earnest writers in India will make you think, cry and maybe even laugh. When I stepped into the shoes of contributors in India, I learned that the desire to have acceptance, fair treatment and love is universal!
Peacefully yours!
Escada, Louis Vouitton, Gucci, Prada, BCBG, etc…
Labels are for filing. Labels are for clothing. Labels are not for people. ~ Martina Navratilova
To label or not to label… that is the question. I’m speaking of people, not fashion.
When we are born in a hospital, we are given a cute little label on a plastic ID bracelet. Our surname is usually written on the label so the hospital staff knows which of the waiting mothers to take us to once we’re ready to be held, loved and fed. A baby has no idea that a label is affixed to him or her. Our mothers would probably recognize us without the label if they were allowed to walk into the hospital nursery. Since the hospital staff cannot remember who each baby belongs to and could give us to the wrong mother, a name label seems essential.
When a person dies, the morgue gives the body a label. This label or toe tag is hanging from a string with identifying information. This assures that the body is given the right autopsy or other services before being transferred to the burial agency the family has paid to provide final arrangements. I don’t know if it happens often in real life, but movies like to show families grieving the wrong body because someone goofed up the label.
In between birth and death, labels are thrown into a huge hat of life and everyone is supposed to reach in and pull out an identifying label. This hat will go around throughout one’s lifetime as we go through many changes in life that require us to pick a label. Most of us will have the same labels at some point, e.g. baby, toddler, child, girl/boy, student, adolescent, young/old, man/woman, Black/White, girlfriend/boyfriend, wife/husband, mother/father, grandmother/grandfather, employee, homeowner, taxpayer, and senior citizen. Others may earn labels they are proud to have such as doctor, Nobel Peace Prize winner, teacher, President of the United States of America, mentor, hero, etc. Some labels can cost you and determine your standing in life, e.g. smoker, criminal, drunk driver, child abuser, drug addict, minority, etc.
Then, there are those labels that seem to correlate with controversy. Why is there so much controversy, secretiveness, blasphemy, and bigotry surrounding the gay, homosexual, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual, transgendered, and queer labels? Why is it that the more open the topics surrounding LGBTQ matters become, the more often that those who are not gay have to use the “straight” label?
It used to be that people automatically assumed everyone was straight because being gay was such a taboo that only the bravest rebels would dare label themselves as gay. Being straight was automatic and the gay population were supposed to use labels so they could be placed into society’s “closeted because something is wrong” section.
As a straight person who has been an advocate of LGBTQ rights, I was shocked when a few people asked me if I’m gay. Frankly, I was somewhat offended because I grew up in the “straight is normal” society that protects straight people from having to defend or explain their sexual identity. I always thought my sexual orientation was obvious and that I was a part of the “norm” or the majority that didn’t need to use a label.
After realizing that I was reacting in an offended manner because society has made all of us think that being gay equates to something negative, bad, sinful, or wrong, I noticed that my sexual identity questioners would do the politically correct song and dance by telling me that it would be ok and wouldn’t matter if I was gay. Of course, my response is, “why ask if it’s ok and does not matter?”
I have never asked anyone if they are gay just for the sake of knowing so that I can tell them it’s ok and does not matter. For health reasons, I have asked men I’ve dated about their sexual history because I feel I have a right to know. [NOTE: Talking about sexual health is another blog.]
Well, I gave myself the “heterosexual rebel” label when I joined the crusade to fight against the society that discriminates and thrives on ostracizing and discriminating against those who don’t fit society’s norm (whatever the hell norm really means). I am confident enough in my straightness that I can rattle the minds of other straight people to make them realize that I am the same person just as the gay person is the same regardless of the label ascribed by self or by society.
My poem “Sexual Identity: [x] NA (not applicable)” is in the anthology and was inspired by my thoughts on labels. www.jafansta.com/StepIntoMyShoes_LGBTQ_Anthology.aspx
In 2011, the rights of gays in the military, marriage, family, adoption, workplace, and in schools are continuously improving. As this happens, there seems to be a change in people’s attitude about attaching a gay label as a sign of pride. Thus, the abundance of Gay Pride and Rainbow Pride parades, bumper stickers, marches, and other activism. PFLAG members are proud to use labels for their loved ones by saying, “my son is gay”, “my mom is lesbian” or “my uncle is queer.” Gays are proud to announce they are lesbian, bisexual, transsexual, or queer. There are still many who would prefer to stay in the closet or remain secretive because they don’t want to have a label affixed so that society can clump them into a category that is still not completely accepted.
I’ve noticed many gays are using the queer label, which they feel covers anything they want to be. [NOTE: Come back to read another blog that discusses queer.]
In thinking about how society has evolved with regards to the LGBTQ population and its labels, do you feel labels are needed for people? Are they useful with a positive message or useless with negative connotations? Should we leave labeling to the designers for clothing, shoes, purses, cologne, and luggage?
Peacefully yours!
Today feels like a Fantastic Friday!
It’s exciting to know that many people are opening up and writing about their feelings. Some are realizing that writing has therapeutic and healing qualities. Writing Therapy, Poetry Therapy, Music Therapy, Dance Therapy, Art Therapy, and many other creative therapies are part of the Expressive Arts Therapies. Many psychotherapists such as myself know that creativity can be used to help heal emotional wounds and sometimes physical ailments.
The writer, poet, musician, dancer, artist or other creative artists can experience self-healing as a result of expressing their feelings using a creative method. Creative artists can also create stories, poems, music, art, and other forms of healing artistry that can be used by others seeking an alternative or supplement to traditional therapeutic healing.
Many contributors to the anthology, Step Into My Shoes: Expressions from the LGBTQ Community, probably felt an inner healing as they wrote their poems, stories or letters. Their heartfelt expressions are a valuable resource for others seeking healing within their own minds and hearts. If you are seeking comfort in knowing others share your sentiments as a member of the LGBTQ community, this anthology is for you.
It is a Fantastic Friday thanks to the multi-talented contributors who made this anthology a valuable tool for the Expressive Arts therapies.
Today feels like a Straight Saturday!
It was late yesterday when I read online articles and tweets that shouted to the world that New York finally legalized same-sex marriage. Gay men and women are crying tears of joy and proposing to their long-time partners. I’m happy for them!
A couple of the articles I’ve read online were posted by Reuters (http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/25/us-gaymarriage-newyork-idUSTRE75N5ZA20110625) and the Chicago Tribune (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-nys-new-gay-marriage-law-passes-celebrities-weigh-in-20110624,0,5107305.story?track=rss).
As always, when reading online articles there are other headlines that catch my attention. As I scrolled down the page on the Chicago Tribune site, I saw a controversial headline, Bill Maxwell: Homophobia, It’s a Black Thing, that just begged me to click on it. This article (http://scrippsnews.com/content/maxwell-homophobia-its-black-thing) addressed some oppositional views of those who are adamantly against same-sex marriage.
Before the law passed in NY, Tracy Morgan was at the center of an anti-gay controversy. Other famous (and non-famous) Blacks have been noted as being homophobic. I can’t respond to the notion of homophobia being a Black thing. I am a heterosexual Black female and I’m promoting Step Into My Shoes: Expressions from the LGBTQ Community, an anthology I compiled and edited. I guess I missed the memo on homophobia being a Black thing.
Rev. Bernice King, the youngest child of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. is a very strong and active opponent of same-sex marriage. Her father is a huge inspiration for me and many in the world who believe in humanity, equality, compassion, and peace. How can the child who sat in the arms of her Civil Rights activist mother at the funeral of her humanitarian, peace promoting and Civil Rights activist father (in that famous photo) become a monger of anything that represents inequality? Her father died in the midst of a battle that really has not ended. I would think that Bernice King would put her time and energy into the ongoing struggle to end discrimination and promote equality.
Yesterday, today and tomorrow, feels like a Straight for Equality day.
Peacefully yours,
Today feels like a Friendly Friday!
How do you feel today?
If you have ordered a copy of Step Into My Shoes: Expressions from the LGBTQ Community, you will feel a friendly bond with many of the contributors who have opened up and shared deep feelings about life as an LGBTQ person or as the friend or ally of an LGBTQ person. As an ally of the LGBTQ community, I felt a friendly bond with many of the faceless contributors who submitted poems, letters, essays, and narratives to the anthology.
Today I walked past the magazine rack in the university library and saw Chaz Bono’s face on the copy of The Advocate. (www.advocate.com) I stopped and looked at his face, which I had not really seen since he was Chastity Bono. He looks the same with the exception of a few extra facial pounds. More importantly, I saw a friendliness in Chaz’s eyes that has been there since childhood. I remember watching the Sonny & Cher show on TV back in the 70s when they would bring out their then cute little girl with the friendly looking eyes and smile.
For those who think anyone from the LGBTQ completes changes their entire identity when they change their sexual identity, I’m willing to bet their spirit is unchanged. If there was a friendly spirit before you knew they were lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, or queer, it is still there if you would be open-minded enough to look into the person’s eyes and see the friendly spirit that continues to make them who they are regardless of their sexual orientation.
A person’s friendly spirit can be felt as you read their sentimental writings or look into their eyes on the cover of a magazine. So, today feels like a friendly Friday as I think of my newfound friends who contributed to an anthology that represents Compassion, Equality and Humanity.
Peacefully yours,
Related articles
- A Question of Transgender Community (victoriaoldham.wordpress.com)
- Chaz Bono to be Grand Marshal of Gay Pride Parade (redbeardedoctopus.wordpress.com)
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