LGBTQIA+ RIGHTS IN INDIA IN RELATION TO INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

Duvada S H Neha Choudhury, Damodaram Sanjivayya National Law University, Visakhapatnam

ABSTRACT:

There are many unspoken issues in India. Some are slowly getting normalised to be spoken about and a few issues are still not openly discussed. One of such issues is the LGBTQIA+ community rights. It stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (questioning), intersex, asexual and agender etc. Previously used acronym were GLBT, LGBT and LGBTQ+. The people from this community are often treated in an inhumane way and are subjected to violence, rape, discrimination from people, cyberbullying and list goes on. They are denied their basic rights in the society even after the decriminalisation of section 377 of the India penal code in 2018.

Homosexuality was made as an offence in the 1860s during the colonial rule of British and it’s treated like something brought from the western society. But in the actual scenario it has always been existing since the ancient times i.e., there have been references made about it in the ancient Hindu scriptures like the Mahabharata, Ramayana, Puranas, folktales etc. In this project we are going to deal about the basic terms used of the community, the emergence of the pride movement in world and India, the present political scenario regarding the community and the mythological and cultural references of the LGBTQIA+ community. 

This research paper helps a layman to get a basic knowledge on the community and have a better understanding on the various issues that are discussed here. The researcher is trying to relate the mythological references with the present mind-sets of people and to make them aware that homosexuality is pre-existing from the ancient times by making references from the ancient texts and also opine that rights are to be provided to the community when the existence of homosexuality is seen since ages.

INTRODUCTION:

Human is the main element of a society. They are to be provided basic rights in the society irrespective of their caste, creed, race, sex, religion, etc. But the irony in this society is that a set of people are deprived of their human rights just because they have a different sexual orientation. The LGBTQIA+ community is subjected to this kind of discrimination in the society only due to their different sexual orientation even after the decriminalisation of section 377 of the Indian penal code. 

The acronym LGBTQIA+ stand for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer[questioning], intersex, asexual, agender and the plus[+] indicates many unidentified sexualities. The sexuality spectrum is a humongous topics and there are around 200 scales to identify sexuality in this spectrum. There are many gender identities. The anti-sodomy laws were brought into India by the colonial rulers, after which people had a preconceived notion that homosexuality is something western so people are not that welcoming towards this community people. But the fact is that culturally there are many traces in the Indian mythology about homosexuality or people from the community.