Blogger Roopa Singh has posted some pictures and a brief account from the India Day Parade in New York. The pictures seem to capture the spirit of those protesting the refusal of the parade organizers to allow gay and lesbian members of the community from a visible role in the procession.
Members of SALGA (the South Asian Lesbian and Gay Association) and allies met at Starbucks before today’s India Day Parade to create signs amplifying the discrimination that excluded a visible contingent of Desi gays and lesbians from the march. But good times were had by all, in the heat, in the shimmer of so many cultures right at our feet. We are all Indian, including the gays. We are all New Yorkers, all night and all day. [Link]
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Credit: www.politicalpoet.wordpress.com |
Her full Flickr album can be viewed here. If any of you were there please share your experiences in the comments section.
ONE TIGHT SLAP!
I’m still giggling at that photo!.
Should same sex relations be considered illegal?
73% feel homosexuality should be considered illegal
17% want homosexuality to be legalised
10% have no opinion on the issue
Is the attraction towards a member of the same sex unnatural?
77% or 3/4ths of the respondents consider attraction towards the same sex unnatural
23% are of the view that it is natural to be attracted to the same sex
Is being gay or lesbian a disease?
60% or 6 out of 10 feel homosexuality is a disease
38% feel homosexuality is not a disease
If homosexuality is a disease, can it be cured?
62% of those who feel homosexuality is disease feel it can be cured
18% of those who feel homosexuality is a disease feel it cannot be cured
20% can’t say or don’t know
Is homosexuality against Indian culture?
83% or 4 out of 5 feel that being gay or lesbian is against Indian culture
11% feel that homosexuality does not threaten Indian culture
6% don’t know or can’t say
Do you have a gay or lesbian friend?
94% or 9 out 10 do not have a homosexual friend
Only 6% said they have a homosexual friend
HJS, could you provide a source and more information on your statistics and the nature of this poll, instead of posting a bunch of seemingly random numbers with no foundation? After all, they say 63% of statistics are made up on the spot. 😉
HJS, seconding the request for citation. Some of my own facts:
10% of the population is thought to be gay (Kinsey, 1948)
Being gay is not a disease, nor a mental illness as major scientific and psychological associations agree
Same sex attraction is completely natural, just ask my girlfriend 😉 (By the way, people used to say that interracial attraction was unnatural)
Lesbian, gay and bisexual youth are at a four times higher risk for suicide than their straight peers. (US Dept of Health and Human Services)
100% of LGBT desis want and deserve the respect of their own community
Please ignore comments without citation. I can make up numbers too 🙂
awwwww mario 🙂
And a further 83.6% of those are contested, while 16.3% are not (numbers to not add up to 100% due to rounding).
Ha – totally reminds me of Sex Panther cologne from Anchorman:
“They’ve done studies, you know. 60% of the time, it works every time.”
lol the misson succeeded despite the damger frommarker fumes.
vot a protest.
Ma – “ai salga kee honda hai?” Pa – “o yaad ai tennu. bantu te satish saath rainde see pind ich.” Ma – “oh o” Pa – “bas ohee” Ma – “becharey dee butthee tey dekho. ennoo kudi kiddan milnee san” Pa – “Aho. Limca phadayeen”
Translation: Ma and Pa discuss the impact of salga on the desi community and what it means to them. they are now illuminated.
Amitab(#5) is not ME, the guy who has been commenting here for a long time now. Just saying.
These same Indians who have problems with “The Gay” need to look at the last century of our cinema, with those rich and colorful costumes, opulent sets and insane choreography on display in every fillum.
Forgot to append the ironic / sarcastic 🙂
This in no way speaks of my opinion on this issue. I just read it on Indian news channel. It just shows that Indian society is deeply conservative.
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/state-of-the-nation-indians-think-being-gay-is-sick/98975-19.html
criticizing edison from manhattan is indeed problematic.
Hey, we all have some fight/issue/etc. w/ the desi community! I have several, such as parents no allowing teens (from same background) date each other. Another is the double standard w/ divorce (I know several wonderful divorced women who are having VERY hard time meeting men for remarriage). I could go on…
We shouldn’t put let gay desis get treated differently, b/c they’re also part of us. If desis (Muslims, Hindus, Christians) could ALL get together, we could make some difference in the US. We could make our mark in politics, perhaps.
I like this one. It means that even the most homphobic comment will acknowledge that at least 60-70 million people in India alone are affected by this issue. This is probably larger than the population of Britain! And that’s not even counting people who don’t know they have LGBT friends.
btw, which definition of ‘friend’ are we using here 🙂
They all actually know the same one guy.
He’s very social.
are they having a hard time meeting desi men or just men in general ?
It was the indian independence day celebrations. the pics indicate that SALGA is mostly second gens. I can understand the desire to be involved in a cultural festival like Deepavali or Pongal but Indian Independence Day is a patriotic day for many DBDs. I dont understand how this day matters to Desis of Indian origin who have never been indian citizens. Celebrate the day and leave politics (sexual or otherwise) out of it.
The contempt for DBDs does not win friends – uncles and aunties just get more entrenched in their disgust and disdain for LGBT. Many DBDs work on a dont ask dont tell policy –
In any case does sec 377 have to do with Desis in the USA ?
80% of me is convinced there is a current , post-Proposition 8 (CA) rise in the kind of incidents we saw at India Day (NYC): boldly, exclusionary acts of anti-lesbian/gay discrimination. 70% of me was still so happy to be there, and witness the turnout, the Desi pride, the spectrum of our NYC based diaspora. 100% of this Desi blogger appreciates the link Sepia Mutiny.
Roopa, The good news is that bias against LGBT’s is doomed–look at how far the US has come since the 80’s, plus the recent legal developments in India, etc., etc. It may take a little time, yes, but in terms of how long it took to eradicate (most of, sure not all) racial discrimination (centuries. . . ), we’re movin’ fast now!
Not sure you can tell where a person is from just by looking at pics. Trikone, here in the bay area has a good representation of DBDs, and thats not just from looking at them :). Speaking of Trikone, they had a presence at the Fremont India day celebrations and were warmly accommodated, including the DBDs in attendance.
I was there, saw the protestors. From the minute or so I stopped to watch the spectacle, it seemed like most Desi bystanders were chuckling/smiling at the group’s chanting of “Gay Indians are Indians too,” and “Hai hai FIA” with hijra style claps (I didn’t see that personally but that’s what my friend claimed she saw), along with other “flamboyant” hand gestures and the gay fashion many were sporting.
I think most desi’s, if they aren’t offended by LBGT people, enjoy them more for tamasha purposes a la Dostana.