Do homosexuals belong to the race of humans?

Mutum Meeta *

Do they belong to the race of humans? Where in the world are they going to build a dignified life? If they are not the biological male or female, what are they? Homosexuals or LGBTs (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual) as they are called are no new term to be unknown.

It is an undenying fact that they too have a body like any other normal human has; they too have a soul and a heart that carries them away to fall for the same sex attraction. It's the modern-educated society we live in and we all talk about rights, rights about a free life with the Constitution being the guarantor.

Yes, we declare to live in a free country; but when we give a keen eye to the cliché of its precincts we are no lesser then in a dungeon. We are trapped in our own freedom with defined restrictions.

The cult in which we are borned and brought up has hardly given us any independence as to the right to choose our own spouse. The Indian society has faith in arranged marriage of a kind which is fixed by the consent of the elders of a family. Such a fashion could be seen prevalent in the rustic sides of the country till date.

But the scene has undergone a slight change in the metropolitan cities with the enhancement in each ways as to education and living standards. The matter to be noted in this new advent is "Where the timeworn system restricts whilst choosing ones partner even in the opposite sex marriage, accepting the wedlock of same sex marriage is an irony and a felony to the society".

When acceptance of the concept is a great taboo to talk about, what will be the outcome when one is under such a commitment? What a life with repeated hounds by the society would be but to succumb his identity to a veiled persona. A body with no identity and a dead soul is a life for them.

A regular person like me can only see where they are being ridiculed and later out-casted and sometimes even killed in the name of bare honor. The minority of the masses is where they belong, but minorities also share the same Rule of law and the same roof of government as we. However, it is the vicinity of giving a rightful recognition where they are collected as an 'unidentified object'.

If they had ever been considered as a soulful being, they would have had their rightful rights as a human and as a gender. The query which seems reasonable to be put up is 'Why not the homosexuals are be recognized as our fellow beings?'

Gay rights are recognized in some parts, but denied and counted as criminal act in many parts of the world community. India is one lagging behind to accepting them and regards them as a taboo to the society. The traditional uproot has still been taking its toll reckoning the aged-old followings. This is the main reason why they fear to tell about their sexual orientation and hesitate to clear their entirety.

Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code criminalizes any non natural sexual relation. It has been considered as a punishable offence with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment of either description for term which may extend to ten years, and shall also liable to be fined. In the famous Naz Foundation (India) Trust case, 2009 the Indian law on this aspect has decriminalized homosexuality. The Delhi High Court ruled in this case that treating consensual gay sex as a crime was an infringement of fundamental rights protected by the Constitution.

In the month of February this year (2010), a professor was suspended for having consensual sex with another man in the Aligarh Muslim University. This is the famous University with glorious history and present. The societal strain leaves in most of the cases like this the ultimate choice to meet the fate. He was later found dead in his room.

Not later after this in March, a gay couple in Manipur publicly declared to get married. Sandip Soibam, the 25 year old groom exchanged ring with Nikhil Hidangmayum, the 28 years old bride knotting their 6 years old courtship. The parents of both the bride and the groom did not attend the wedding clearing that their own family disowns such recognition. But a number of transvestites graced their presence in the wedding blessing the couple indicating that only a transvestite understands another of its kind.

The said marriage between Nikhil and Sandip lasted only a budge. They were pressurized to withdraw their marriage not very later. This is not the first time that a gay marriage has been reported in the small state of Manipur. There are many more unnoticed same sex marriages in this tiny state only. Those marriages took place though not with as many public attention as that of Nikhil and Sandip. Nevertheless they share the same societal pressure which won't let them live a happy life together, the spite being their own community i.e. we ourselves.

The detractor scrutinizing their lives is not only the public, but from all the spheres of facet. If we see the story angling the issue from law point of view, then there was never a marriage between them. The Delhi High Court order has given legality to consensual sex between same sex adult partners, but never has it been referred that same sex marriage as a part of Naz Foundation Trust case, or a judge-made law in India.

Even if the marriage is assumed to be lawful, there is a bar to their union from another edge. The gay couple belongs to the Meitei Community; hence by law the way of solemnization of the marriage was void ab initio.

The Meiteis are governed by the customary marriage laws. There was never a valid wedding between them. They exchanged rings in a way a Christian wedding is being celebrated. It was seen in some of the leading newspapers of India with headline "The Gay Marriage Ended in Divorce". The question that popped up inside me was that how could a marriage that never happen end up in a divorce?

We (humans) are the race which has the sensibility to think smart, work for good and development. We in all parts of the humankind declare ourselves to be a rational and social animal. This declaration serves only a bare fragment of imagination, and is alike putting up a transparent veil on one's eyes and knowingly not accepting one's another self.

The people in the globe have different cultural backgrounds, but this doesn't make us to be an entirely different entity. As all humans are same every where in the world, why are laws that are being applied to them different from the rest of mankind?

Why are homosexuals still unheard of even when their outcry is the same far and wide? Or is it that the experts of the world's largest democracy deaf and blind?