Over the centuries the
world has existed, all the humans who are not heteronormal (normal in sexual orientation) in the strict
definition of the word have been persecuted and their dignity has been stolen
simply because of their sexual orientation. The fear of being discovered and
the need to constantly hide how you truly feel has been a constant mental
pressure on all of them.
Yet, in ancient times,
when perhaps we weren’t as ‘evolved’, the attitude towards at least homosexuality
in many parts of the world was far more liberal. In early modern Egypt, the
Siwa Oasis was actually an oasis for homosexual couples, and it was not just
accepted, but encouraged. It is generally accepted that in Ancient China,
homosexuality was popular and practiced by kings and peasants alike. Even in
the case of ancient Indian texts, such as the Kamasutra, ideas of transcending
gender and having feelings for the same sex are often referred to. So, what
happened to us in the many years since, that we became more accepting of
everything but the LGBT and the ace communities? What caused this overwhelming
change in the popular imagination that caused Alan Turing, one of the most
brilliant minds in history to say –
“I'm afraid that the following syllogism may be
used by some in the future,
Turing believes machines think
Turing lies with men
Therefore machines do not think."
Turing’s story of being
publicly humiliated for his orientation and being banished from England is a
deeply hurtful one, and should have incited a lot more discussion than it did.
I think a major reason for this change in the public mindset came from one man
and his teachings – the man who basically created his own version of the story
of Genesis in the Holy Bible, the version that most of us are familiar with
today. I am talking about, of course, St. Augustine.
St. Augustine’s beliefs
about original sin and how it resides in sex led to a change in ideas that
meant that every Christian, and every place that a Christian country colonised,
began to think of sex and love as something to be hidden and a sin against God.
The ‘enlightened saint’ who believed that sex and romantic love were evil, even
for the process of procreation between man and wife, would have utterly
condemned any other types of romantic relationships, people reasoned. And thus,
started the movement to supress any ideas contrary to the popular imagination’s
conception of heteronormativity.
The LGBT movement has
become more and more powerful across the world, finally, over the last decade
or so. Many countries around the world have legalised homosexual marriage. But
many countries are still not accepting what they consider to be ‘depraved’
people. This calls into question another point. Is someone’s sexuality really
something that any government or even the society has the authority to control
or interfere in? Do the ideas of privacy apply to sexual orientation? It is a
fair consideration that the right to privacy - being a fundamental right that
cannot be infringed upon – should only be infringed upon by the government in
cases of extreme exceptions, such as national security, harm to a third person,
or evidence of a non-civil crime being committed. Thus, creating laws that
encroach on this right, such as Section 377 in India, is a very problematic
precedent that could lead to further government control of the citizens of the
country.
Another important
consideration is the fact that sexuality and sex are different ideas. Sex is a
natural function of the body and serves to satisfy sexual desire. It is a
choice. Sexuality is not. In such a case, there are further problems to deal
with. Out of the LGBT and ace communities, the most accepted people today are
homosexuals. But this acceptance seems to be conditional to their
sexualisation, and their ostracization from their own gender. Every depiction
of gay men or women in popular media such as shounen ai or shoujo ai manga in
Japan, or on TV shows, shows them as these extremely attractive people who seem
to be there more to serve the role of ‘eye-candy’ and to propagate the
stereotypes they are associated with rather than any actual role. The idea of
the ‘gay best friend’ for both guys and girls causes a lot of problems as well.
But what is even more alarming, is that while girls are often fine with gay
guys and guys are fine with lesbian girls, they always seem to avoid homosexual
people of the same gender.
While talking about these
communities, homosexual people and trans people are included, but the asexual
community is often excluded. They are far better at fitting into society, so
hardly any of them ever actually come out of the metaphorical closet. But they
are also part of the LGBT community in their own way. Asexual people are those
who experience little or no sexual attraction to other people. There are also
several different orientations who are part of this community such as
demisexuals who only experience sexual attraction after forming deep romantic
attachments. These terms, and the wide-spread lack of knowledge about the
existence of these communities cause a lot of problems for those children,
teens and adults who do not know about them. If they themselves could identify
as asexual, they might think that there is something wrong with them and might
feel that they’re alone. If they don’t, they could discriminate against
friends, classmates, work colleagues or anyone for being ‘weird’ because they
do not understand the differences between them.
I would just like to end
by pointing out that sexual orientation - just like height, race and
nationality – is merely a distinction that we can make between people. But in
the ideal society that we are always working towards building, there should not
be any distinction between one life or the other. And this certainly should not
be something the government can decide for you, just as they can’t decide how
tall you are or what colour your skin is.
