Say it out (fairly) loud

 

 

Say it out (fairly) loud

Sagnik Dutta Posted online: Tuesday , Jun 16, 2009 at 0048 hrs

Come June 28 this year and the “queer” community shall throng the bustling streets of major Indian cities once again; this time Chennai will join Delhi, Bangalore and Kolkata. Timed to coincide with the anniversary of the historical Stonewall riots — a vehement 1969 protest by New York City’s LGBT community following a police raid at a gay bar in Greenwich Village — the Indian gay pride parade attempts to counter prejudice against the queer community through an enthusiastic and strident — some would say paradoxical — celebration and affirmation of sexual diversity.

A post in the official blog of Delhi Queer Pride reads: “Queer Pride is a celebration. It is about loving who we are, whether lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, hijra or straight, and affirming everyone’s right to be respected.” Celebration of what is still perceived by some moralists as “deviant” sexuality is indeed a unique form of protest. Also, a closer examination of the preparations for the parade and the subtle symbolism associated with it gives us a window into the complex concerns of the gay rights movement in India.

Consider the parade’s organising committee. It tries to reflect the heterogeneity of the queer community, as well as the diverse concerns that are inextricably linked to the gay rights movement in India. Members of the committee are associated with several other organisations; and yet there is a conscious effort to organise the event as a collective effort of various individuals rather than as tied into any specific organisation. That could be seen as an attempt to voice the movement’s varying concerns without prioritising one concern over any other. As one committee member, Ponni Arasu, also a researcher with the Alternative Law Forum observes, “Each of the causes that these organisations are fighting for is equally important for the larger movement. While Nigaah is initiating discussions on representations of sexuality in the media in the intellectual social space, Sangama and Naa [work] closely with hijras and kothis. It is important to see that none of these voices of dissent are marginalised.” The decision to organise the first LGBT pride march in Chennai — preceded by a series of events to increase community awareness, including the launch of a Human Rights Watch Report on sodomy laws on June 20 — also implies a gradual expansion of the horizons of the movement. Arasu again: “The plan is to gradually reach out to even the small towns of the country where the exposure to the media and therefore to contemporary debates about sexuality is limited.”

The organiser’s ambitious aspirations notwithstanding, the pride parade has to be firmly grounded in contemporary reality. This is amply borne out by the choice made by several participants last year to wear a mask that conceals their identity. Isn’t the donning of a mask in a procession which aims at affirmation in a sense self-defeating? One activist, Aditya Bandopadhyay, thinks otherwise: “The mask can emerge as a poignant symbol of protest, a concrete representation of the claustrophobia that homosexuals feel.” Besides, some straight men sympathetic to the gay cause could also prefer to wear masks while taking part in a pride parade. After all, says one organiser, Rahul Singh, “the comfort level of individuals with their orientation varies considerably, which is why we respect the decision of people preferring to wear a mask.”

Another prominent area of debate within the queer community has been around the distribution of HIV leaflets, condoms and lubes in a gay pride parade. True, there are multiple implications as well as symbolic associations of this act of distribution, in this specific social context; and putting safe sex front-and-centre can counter any stereotypes about the promiscuous in the queer community and its vulnerability to HIV-AIDS. However, it could also be read as an act of sensationalism, instead reinforcing the fallacious notion that the LGBT community is primarily responsible for HIV’s spread.

Thus the problematic nature of specific aspects of, and concerns within, the gay rights movement can be seen to surface during the organisation of the pride parade. There’s criticism of public “bandying about” one’s orientation, something which is essentially “personal” to an individual. But in the context of the queer community, the pride parade is an effort to gradually reclaim public social spaces that have been historically denied to a marginalised community.

sagnik.dutta@expressindia.com

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NEVER READY FOR IT

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090613/jsp/opinion/story_11100934.jsp

 

 

NEVER READY FOR IT

In India, the State now speaks in many tongues on homosexuality. Different ministries have come up with bafflingly different positions on the matter. So far, on the ‘reading down’ of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (the archaic law that ends up criminalizing adult consensual homosexuality in India), the courts have sounded progressive, the health ministry encouraging, and the law and home ministries regressive. The regressiveness is alarming, not only because of the astonishing ignorance, indeed blindness, of its “India is not ready for it yet” position, but also because of the schizophrenic divide regarding sex and sexuality within the State that shows up when the health ministry’s view is compared with those of the law and home ministries. Yet the health ministry’s ‘positive’ stance is founded on fear and caution rather than principled thinking — on the same sort of logic that underlies action against swine ’flu or SARS: if the law is not changed, then it will be difficult to stop people from dying of AIDS. So when the law minister makes vague public noises to the effect that some bits of the IPC “may be” outdated, and Section 377 “could be” one of these bits, then it really does not amount to very much. But by now, hanging on to every word that the State lets fall on the matter, and then trying to make sense of them, have become part of the entire struggle for legal and social change that the movement against Section 377 has become in India. This movement remains largely confined, though, to those who are victimized by Section 377 — that is, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community, mostly among urban (and sometimes provincial), middle-class Indians. Annual parades and candle-lit vigils, again mostly in the big cities and often (though not always) associated with HIV/AIDS, are when this community is given some visibility in the media, although of a stereotypically colourful kind. Or when big-budget Bollywood indulges in a bit of innocuous same-sex fun, people talk about it for a while, usually with light-hearted titters, as if chatting about exotic lifestyle options. But with food, weddings, cricket and elections being the nation’s chief obsessions, the closet rather than the courtroom is where the matter is invariably laid to rest. Why does it remain virtually impossible to figure out what the nation’s leaders think about men having sex with men, or women having sex with women? Does the Rashtrapati Bhavan or the Prime Minister’s Office have a view on homosexuality? Would the Gandhis, particularly the younger ones, speak up for it? What does Agatha Sangma, the Lok Sabha’s youngest minister, think about it? How does Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee feel about the sexual orientation of his beloved Proust? All these right-thinking people would not think twice before speaking up against untouchability, apartheid or female circumcision. So why this silence, or slipperiness, about this other, universally acknowledged, form of discrimination?

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Celina: Giving rights to gays doesn’t diminish your own 15 Jun 2009, 0000 hrs IST, TNN

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Section 377, introduced by Lord Macaulay in 1860 as a part of the IPC, reads, “Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of Celina Jaitley More Pics nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to 10 years, and shall also be liable to fine.” Bollywood actress and Miss World Celina Jaitley, a strong supporter of gay rights, is fighting for the amendment of this law. She has written three blogs on the subject in iTimes for which there have been lively feedback, both for and against. Here are some comments from bloggers about Celina's views on gays in India... V Malhotra Everybody has different ways of finding happiness and enjoying it. If someone is gay, does it really matter if you are not? John Smith To all the retards arguing that gays are normal and their being attracted to their own sex is normal, would you agree that someone attracted to kids or animals and having sex with them is normal, too! Shreya Bhandary Parents, forcing heterosexuality on your kids will make their lives a living torture. Instead, let them be, and if possible, support them in their quest for equal rights in society. Alok Kumar All so-called modern and educated youth should come forward and support Celina. Today or tomorrow there can be a gay or lesbian in your own homes. Will you kill them in the name of moral values and ethics? Think friends, think and set an example of live and let live. If people think that they have the right to laugh and make fun of gays only because they are straight, they are wrong. Please stop this harassment of gays because all these things are natural, made by God. And nobody has any right to say no to the creation of God. Kiran Varanasi I am a heterosexual male, but I consider this fight for gay rights to be my own fight because it is ultimately a fight for individual liberties. We should not sacrifice the freedom of the individual, and as a society, we should strive to be tolerant and accepting. If not, ultimately we will become a monolithic, conformist society with one single language and one single religion and that will be a nightmare. Radha Krishnan Denouncing, abusing, hurting and even killing others just because they don’t look like or behave like ‘us’ is so last century. Every such act has been justified through history by invoking God or nature. Apartheid was born thus, the caste system was perpetuated thus. And when nobody speaks out, it becomes ‘what everybody wants’, which is far from the truth. Vinayak Kamath My problem is not with giving them equal rights. My problem is not with accepting them as a part of society. My problem is not in socialising with them. My problem is in considering them as an oppressed class. Making them a national issue. Wasting precious time and money on them. My problem is with glorifying them.

 

 

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India: 'Sodomy' Laws Perpetuate Colonial Prejudices

India: ‘Sodomy’ Laws Perpetuate Colonial Prejudices

Courts Should Decriminalize Adult, Consensual Same-Sex Acts

June 14, 2009

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Also Available in Hindi

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 “Why would a country that prides itself on being the world’s largest democracy keep laws on the books that blatantly violate human rights? And why would a nation with a thriving civil society, including a vibrant LGBT human rights movement, hold on to colonial morality codes?”

Dipika Nath, Researcher for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Rights Program at Human Rights Watch

(Delhi) - As the High Court in Delhi prepares to rule on whether adult, consensual homosexual conduct should continue to be illegal in India, the nation's new government should drop its opposition to law reform, Human Rights Watch said today. The organization today issued the Hindi translation of a report documenting how the majority of the world's "sodomy laws" are outworn relics of British colonial rule.

The 90-page report, "This Alien Legacy: The Origins of "Sodomy" Laws in British Colonialism," details how Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which criminalizes "carnal intercourse against the order of nature" with up to life imprisonment, was imposed on India by the British as an instrument of social control. Human Rights Watch called on Indian authorities to support reforming the discredited provision. It also called on other governments retaining these archaic laws to move quickly toward their abolition. By criminalizing adult, consensual same-sex acts, Section 377 violates individuals' fundamental rights to privacy and freedom from non-discrimination.

"Why would a country that prides itself on being the world's largest democracy keep laws on the books that blatantly violate human rights?" said Dipika Nath, a researcher for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Rights Program at Human Rights Watch. "And why would a nation with a thriving civil society, including a vibrant LGBT human rights movement, hold on to colonial morality codes?"

Indian LGBT rights organizations in Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai, and Bangalore have organized discussions and events around the report and the High Court case between June 12 and June 25, 2009. The groups organizing the events are: Pratyay Gender Trust and Sappho for Equality in Kolkata; the Shakti Center in Chennai; LABIA in Mumbai; and Alternative Law Forum, Sangama, and LesBiT in Bangalore. The Delhi High Court is expected to deliver its ruling on the case this summer.

The Indian Penal Code was the first comprehensive criminal code Britain drafted for its colonies; it served as a model for similar codes forced on jurisdictions throughout the British Empire. Versions of Section 377 also served as the model for similar laws across Asia and Africa. A majority of the countries that continue to criminalize adult, consensual same-sex relations inherited these laws from their colonizers, though several now claim them as a part of their pre-colonial tradition and national identity.

In the Delhi High Court case aimed at decriminalizing homosexual conduct, the Indian government has claimed that sodomy laws defend traditional cultural values. In stark contrast to these assertions, the Human Rights Watch report shows that homophobic laws, not homosexual conduct, are a Western import. Colonial morals laws categorized entire classes of people, such as hijras (working-class, male-to-female transgender individuals), as "criminal tribes" who could be arrested simply for appearing in public.

"Section 377, like its sibling laws in other formerly colonized countries, is a legacy of British rule," Nath said. "It is disturbing that post-colonial democratic states like India treat these undemocratic, discriminatory laws as traditions, not impositions."

Moreover, Section 377 and other British-era sodomy laws make no distinction between consensual and non-consensual sex, or between sex among adults and sexual abuse of children. As a result, these surviving laws leave many rape victims and child victims of abuse without effective legal protection.

A 2001 fact-finding report by the People's Union for Civil Liberties-Karnataka found that police use Section 377 to blackmail gay and bisexual men, to detain individuals illegally, and to intimidate lesbians and other women in same-sex relationships. The petitioners in the ongoing case in the Delhi High Court have also argued that Section 377 is used to harass and abuse HIV/AIDS workers and particularly to target members of already-marginalized communities, such as hijras.

In 1994, the UN Human Rights Committee - which authoritatively interprets the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) - held that sodomy laws violate the rights to privacy and to non-discrimination.

"From Malaysia to Uganda, governments use these laws to harass civil society, restrict freedom of speech, discredit political enemies, and destroy lives," Nath said.

Colonies and countries that retain versions of this British sodomy law include:

·         In Asia and the Pacific: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Burma, India, Kiribati, Malaysia, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Western Samoa. (Governments that inherited the same British law, but have abolished it since include: Australia, Fiji, Hong Kong, and New Zealand.)

·         In Africa: Botswana, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Nigeria, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Swaziland, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Eleven former British colonies in the Caribbean also retain sodomy laws derived from a different British model than the one imposed on India.

 

 

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Stigma against Nagpur gay couple in India

 

Stigma against Nagpur gay couple

http://www.ndtv.com/news/videos/video_player.php?id=1125882

 

 

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Yeh Jeevan Hai.............

Thousands join gay pride parades in Europe

Thousands join gay pride parades in Europe

15 hours ago

PARIS (AFP) — Thousands of people across Europe on Saturday took part in colourful gay pride parades to protest against anti-gay prejudice.

In Rome, organisers said an estimated 200,000 people took part while in the French city of Strasbourg the turnout was put at between 2,800 and 3,500 by police and organisers.

Around 2,000 Greek gay and lesbian people also marked the annual gay pride event in Athens, with an estimated 1,000 taking to the streets in Warsaw and several hundred in Zagreb.

Gay rights activist Rossana Traitano in Rome said the country had more in common with "Russia than with France" in its attitude to gays and lesbians.

In Zagreb, special police accompanied the marchers and a few dozen anti-gay protesters carrying banners with slogans including "gay pride the shame of our city" booed and shouted insults.

"Despite our presence there is still a lack of freedom, a restrictedness," Marko Jurcic, a gay activist, told journalists before a 30-minute-long march through central Zagreb.

"We want that the city of Zagreb, its institutions and citizens recognise our existence and our support for an open and better Zagreb," he added.

"They (gays) are endangering the freedom of normal, heterosexual people who want to raise their families ... and live according to God's and natural laws," said Josip Miljak, head of the extreme-right Croatian Pure Party of Rights that organised the anti-gay protest.

Polish activist Tomasz Baczkowski said attitudes were changing slowly in the largely Catholic country.

"But the intolerance is still omnipresent, so much so that our parades are always useful," he said.

 

 

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For what god has given us an Anal Canal

Interesting  post on gay_bombay@yahoogroups.com. Pasting it below

Hello Guys...

This is Anish from Mumbai.

There was a post regarding the Anal canal. I read that God has given it for only one reason.

I completely agree with this fact that God has given us the Anal Canal just for passing stools

Defecation

If a solid rod (Penis) / or any such foreign item is passed through it, it can injure the canal and can cause hemorrhoids, Piles, fissures, severe injury which takes months to recover.

I agree to this point on Sec 377 and words in Islam and Christianity

Yes I had it with my ex - boyfriend using an anesthetic gel against my wish to satisfy my love back in December. Days passed and I started bleeding on the 10th day of intercourse. I was not able to pass stools in the morning and it was getting harder to do this as days passed. On the 20th day I underwent a surgery. After surgery for the next one month the pain was unbearable and I used to cry and shout loudly every day. The doctor was kind to me and he knew that I had an intercourse a month back. I have lost about 10 kgs due to dieting on avoiding oily and spicy food. He has kept this info confidential and asked to me stay away from intercourse. He advised me to take interest in girls.

When I was in hospital Not a single Gay Friend of mine came to see me. I informed about 10 gay friends and about 8 straight friends. All 8 straight friends (they know I am Gay) came to see and wish me. Not a Single Gay friend including my Ex visited me or called me for my well being. Instead they started avoiding me. (May be because they cant use me any more!! or may be they thought if they come they may face criminal 377 charges!!)

I am thinking of being friends only with my straight friends because they are the best..


Being a Gay the experience has ruined my life and now I am not able to live a happy life and not able to concentrate in studies and at work. When that guy came to know about this thing he dumped me then and there.

Just shared my experience.

All those people who are very much interested in Anal sex and want to get F****D every week end. My sincere advice, just for 5 mins of pleasure don't risk your life because its precious. Yes Life's Precious, your parents, cousins, your home they are precious, Just hooking up with multiple partners will give you 1% pleasure and 99% pain and No satisfaction or self respect.
 
Have visited 5 doctors including Alopathy, Homeopathy, Ayurved, Nothings working on me and I am in Pain. I am going to Ernakulam for further treatment of laser thearapy to see if it works. Have spent almost Rs. 50000 in the treatment.

So guys take care.

Love

 

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Together, Apart-Organizing around Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Worldwide

Together, Apart

Organizing around Sexual Orientation and

Gender Identity Worldwide

 

 

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Gays, Bisexuals, Cheating,Article 377, Ethics and Marriage

Today’s Mumbai newspapers carry a report on an interesting case about a harassed housewife who has dragged her gay husband and his lover to the court and how the duo have sought anticipatory bail. What is really interesting is that the case among other acts, article 377 had been applied in this case.
I am not sure whether article 377 has been applied elsewhere in such cases across India. But this is indeed a unique case.
I have so many questions regarding this case
1) Article 377 can be applied when there is proof of insertion and intercourse... correct me if am wrong... is there is any such proof in this case?
2) Can article 377 be used to seek alimony/divorce?
3) Can an aggrieved wife seek arrest of the spouse's lover when the lover is a gay?
4) How does this play out in case of lesbians?
Ethical questions also remain.
A) Though this has been debated ad nauseam, I wonder whether the husband and his lover have any ethics?
b) Is the lover as culpable in this case? I mean he is in merchant navy and visits Mumbai and meets his lover when in town…
c) There is an on going discussion in gay_bombay@yahoogroups.com where one riled bi-sexual guy says that if sleeping around despite being in a marriage is wrong... then so be it.... is this attitude the lowest common denominator excuse that one can apply and shrug of one's shoulder and move on?
d) Are those who remain unmarried and don’t give into the much spoken about pressure from family and society idiots? Or they are the ones who should be applauded for sticking it out and braving the world?
What do you guys think?
Ketan
Moderator
=============================================================
Gay businessman taken to court by wife

Times Of India

6 Mar 2009, 0305 hrs IST, Kartikeya, TNN

MUMBAI: A sessions court at Fort has been busy hearing an unusual matter—a wealthy businessman and a sailor with the merchant navy have had to plead protection from arrest after the wife of the former alleged that the duo was in a homosexual relationship. The Gamdevi police even registered a case under Section 377 of the IPC—the law that criminalises homosexual relations—against the two.

Ratan Shrivastav, 39, a resident of Peddar Road, and his wife Pooja, 37, got married in 1994 and have an eight-year-old son. Pooja, however, alleges that Ratan "kept having relationships with several men" which was "hampering her married life". She also said that she had often sent Ratan to a counsellor but that did not improve their marital relations. The complaint also says that there are CDs in which Ratan can be seen in a compromising position with other men.

In his anticipatory bail plea, Ratan did not deny that he was gay. He said he first went to the cops in January when he was told that a non-cognisable complaint had been registered against him for slapping Pooja.

Mum unaware of son’s homosexual relations

Peddar Road businessman Ratan Shrivastav and his sailor friend moved the court for anticipatory bail after Ratan’s wife lodged a non-cognisable complaint against them at Gamdevi police station. Thereafter, a police constable even came to his residence on February 9 and asked his mother whether Ratan was a homosexual.

His mother replied that it was his personal matter and she had no knowledge of it.

Ratan moved court on February 27 when he realised that on a specific complaint by Pooja the police had registered a case under Section 377 against him and his alleged partner, Damien Christopher, 28, the sailor. Ratan feared that he was going to be arrested for custodial interrogation since homosexuality remains a cognizable offence under Indian law. He thus rushed to court for protection and the same day was granted interim anticipatory bail till March 7.

On Thursday, the court heard the anticipatory bail plea of Christopher. Judge D U Mulla wondered whether there was any need for custody in such matters. He observed that there was no evidence that Pooja had been harassed or whether police needed to collect any material evidence. The court granted anticipatory bail to Christopher. Ratan’s own plea will come up for hearing again on Saturday.

(Names have been changed to protect the identities of the parties involved)



Indian Express

After FIR by wife, ‘gay’ husband gets anticipatory bail
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Express News Service
Posted: Mar 06, 2009 at 0257 hrs A Woman accused her husband and another man of indulging in “unnatural sex”, after which the husband moved court and was granted anticipatory bail. The woman had filed a complaint with the Gamdevi police; a sessions court on Thursday granted the anticipatory bail.

Sessions judge DU Mulla granted the bail to Joseph Mascarenhas (name changed) who works with Merchant Navy. Mascarenhas said he used to contact the complainant’s husband through the Internet.

The husband has applied for anticipatory bail. He has admitted in his plea that he is gay and has had more than a partner since 1994. Husband’s lawyer Vivek Kantawala said, “We have moved the court and it will hear the plea on Saturday. Since it’s a sensitive matter dealing with a couple’s marriage, I will not divulge any information.”

Mascarenhas said in his plea that the duo used to meet whenever he came to the city. The complainant and her husband, who stay in a plush flat on Pedder Road in South Mumbai, were married in 1994 and have a seven-year-old child. The complainant’s husband said in his plea that his wife had initially taken him to counsellors hoping that his bisexual nature was temporary. In January, she registered a non-cognizable offence against him. The police called him to the police station and let him go after discussion.

The wife made complaints to the police about being manhandled by her husband. The latter, anticipating arrest, had moved the court and got interim relief. On repeated complaints from the wife, the police filed a first information report against the alleged gay couple on February 16, under Sections 377 (unnatural sex), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means) of the IPC. The complainant had provided two CDs of the accused indulging in unnatural sex, which the police claim as evidence.

While hearing the plea of Mascarenhas, the prosecution said he might flee. But the court said there was no requirement of custodial interrogation as there was no seizure to be made and there was no evidence that he had harassed his wife.

DNA

Wife wants hubby punished for 'gay abandon'
Menaka Rao

Friday, March 6, 2009 3:10 IST

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Mumbai: The wife of a Peddar Road businessman has filed a complaint against him and his alleged partner accusing them of having unnatural sex -- homosexuality in other words.

In her complaint filed under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, Rohini, 37, said that she wants to "punish them". Section 377 stipulates life imprisonment for those who voluntarily have "carnal intercourse against the order of nature".

After the complaint was filed, the businessman, Anand Mathur, and his alleged lover, Rommel Fernandes, approached the sessions court for anticipatory bail. Their applications do not deny allegations of homosexuality. Fernandes, who works in the merchant navy, was granted anticipatory bail; Mathur's application is pending.

Mathur, 40, married Rohini in 1994. The two stayed in a Peddar Road flat with Mathur's parents. In her complaint, Rohini said that she became aware of her husband's "homosexuality" in 1998.

Mathur, Rohini said, confessed to her that he had acquired the "strange habit" when he was a teen. He, however, vowed not to get involved with any man in future, she said. On her insistence, Mathur even underwent counselling, she said. The couple then had a son in 2001.

But, she had an inkling that her husband still had sexual relations with men. The two frequently had arguments about his sexual preference and many a time she left home to live with her parents, Rohini said.

The complaint claimed that in 2007, Mathur confessed to the counsellor that he had found a partner, Fernandes, through an internet site and that he was having sexual relations with him. Fernandes' job in merchant navy occasionally brought him to Mumbai since 2006, it said.

Rohini filed the first information report at the Gamdevi police station on February 16. The police said that during investigations, they found two CDs with "incriminating material" against the accused.

Rohini's lawyer Ameta Kuttikrishnan on Thursday opposed Fernandes' application saying his relationship with Mathur had "hampered" her client's married life. "I'm apprehending that they (Mathur and Fernandes) will get back together. Some strict punishment is required," she said.

Additional sessions judge DU Mulla asked if Rohini still resided with her husband. When he was told she did, the judge asked: "Why are you still residing with him. How can you justify your demand (for the police custody of the accused)? Your problem is not going to be solved like this."

Judge Mulla, while granting anticipatory bail to Fernandes, observed that no other evidence needs to be collected in the case and there are no allegations of Rohini being harassed.

Mathur's anticipatory bail plea will come up for hearing on Saturday. His lawyer, Vivek Kantawala, refused to comment on the case.
(Names changed to protect identities)







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Rediff has a quiz http://specials.rediff.com/getahead/2009/mar/02quiz1-both-straight-or-gay.htm based on a forthcoming film release called Straight which features Vinay Pathak. The quiz tries to determine if you are straight or gay. So when i put this on gay_bombay@yahoogroups.com (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gay_bombay/) which I moderate, a majority of the gays found out that they were straight and were under the mistaken notion that they like guys and are gays. I could not but help laugh at the “discovery” by the gays about their sexuality


Quiz: Are you straight or gay?
http://specials.rediff.com/getahead/2009/mar/02quiz1-both-straight-or-gay.htm

March 2, 2008

Actor Vinay Pathak’s latest release, Straight, debuts on March 20, 2009 and if you haven’t quite guessed after reading the title, it’s about a guy who isn’t too sure whether he’s heterosexual or not.
Are you sailing in the same boat? If so, you need to find out for yourself what your sexual preferences are.
For this test to be at all accurate, the idea is to be open-minded when answering the questions. And keep in mind it’s just for fun!
Guys, click here to proceed to your questions.
Guys, click here to proceed to your questions.Ladies, you need to start off from here.
Keep in mind that while options for both sexes are the same, the tally of results differs.

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http://groups.google.com/group/Gaybombay

Be gay, be anything -- just not single! With same-sex marriage now legal in California, mothers across India and elsewhere are eager to see their gay sons and daughters finally get hitched.
By Sandip Roy
May. 30, 2008 When I left India for America, my aunts worried about who I might end up marrying. "I hope you'll marry another Bengali," an aunt told me. Over the years that relaxed to, "I hope she's a Hindu, even if she's not Bengali." Then it became, "At least another Indian," until finally we reached, "I hope you'll get married to someone before we all die."
She probably didn't mean another man.
But now it might just happen. Same-sex marriage is on a roll in California. First a Republican-dominated Supreme Court said there was no reason gays and lesbians couldn't get married. Now there comes a new Field Poll that says that, for the first time ever, a majority of Californians think same-sex couples should be allowed to marry.
As the pink confetti settles around us, I'm left wondering how immigrants are going to come out anymore. Many of us come from countries that really don't have a word for "gay." India certainly doesn't. There are epithets and some rather technical terms. Coming out in India is usually about marriage, as in, "Mom, Dad, I don't think I am going to get married."
Now the California Supreme Court has yanked that coming-out line away.
Perhaps it's time. After all, the Oxford English Dictionary has apparently had to recalibrate its definition of marriage to allow same-sex nuptials. The Field Poll shows that Californians support the right of same-sex couples to marry by a margin of 51 to 42 percent.
In a state where one in four Californians is foreign-born, that seems to be an astonishing change. When San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom started issuing same-sex wedding licenses in 2004, some of the first protests came from Chinese churchgoers. After all, immigrant families are supposed to be socially conservative.
But that might be part of the reason why the tide is finally shifting on gay marriage. (Of course a younger, more socially liberal state helps.)
For my immigrant friends, being gay in California is not much of an issue. Being unmarried in their 30s and 40s is the real issue, the conversation-stopper at Indian potlucks, the thing that makes them stick out at Chinese banquets.
My friend said that when a heterosexual but unmarried Chinese friend of his told his parents that at least he wasn't gay, the parents retorted, "We'd rather you were gay with kids."
Immigrant families just understand marriage, even same-sex marriage, more easily that singlehood. Singleness means you never grew up. It's the biggest failing of parenthood -- the incompleteness of the unmarried child.
It leads to acts of desperation. I've seen the ads for marriages of convenience -- 29-year-old professional Indian gay, 5-foot-9, good job, looking for Indian lesbian facing similar family pressures. There was even a Web site devoted to Assisting Matrimonial Arrangements for Lesbians and Gays from India, complete with a "gaylerry" of posted ads.
In 1993 my friend Aditya Advani went to India with his boyfriend Michael Tarr and complained to his mother that no one would ever come to his wedding. She promptly organized a ceremony. The family priest presided over it. "Openly gay and married in my parents' drawing room at the age of 30," marveled Aditya. "Right on schedule as a good Indian boy should be!"
I recently watched their wedding video at their home in Berkeley while their cats purred on the couch. It still felt like a fairy tale, a lump-in-the-throat act of domestic revolution.
In 2004 when San Francisco started issuing same-sex wedding licenses, Arvind Kumar and Ashok Jethanandani rose at 5:30 a.m. to drive from their home in San Jose to San Francisco to stand in line to get married.
The couple were already married in a sense. Arvind's mother, who had once adamantly rejected her son's sexuality, presided over a Hindu ceremony for the two after they had been together for more than a decade. They are registered as domestic partners in Palo Alto and the state of California. The registration licenses hang on the wall where other couples might have pictures of their children.
Arvind and Ashok couldn't get married in 2004. Despite getting up so early, they were behind 300 other couples in line. They finally got an appointment but by then the Supreme Court had halted the marriages.
At that time Arvind was philosophical. He knew it was going to be a long fight. "We are just fighting to simplify our lives," says Arvind. "I don't want a Palo Alto date, a state of California date, a Hindu ceremony date. I just want one date, one wedding anniversary like everyone else."
Now Arvind and Ashok can get their one date after all. On June 17 California counties will start issuing marriage licenses to couples like them.
The next generation of immigrant gays and lesbians will have to come up with some other coming-out line.
And the revolution will have to find some new frontier.
Imagine this ad in the local Indian weekly: Hindu very well-established Los Angeles family invites professional match for daughter, 25, 5-foot-3, slim, wheatish complexion, U.S. born, senior executive in Fortune 500 company. Loves music and dance. Prospective brides encouraged to reply in confidence with complete bio data and returnable photo. Must be professional, under 30, caste no bar.
It might just be time for the gay arranged marriage.
A version of this story was originally published by New America Media.