Understanding LGBTQ+: An exhaustive description of gender and sexual identities

Did you know that India, the land of diversity; filled with various regions, religions, castes, creeds, ideologies, beliefs, and notions as over 1.3 million people who sexuality identify themselves from LGBTQ+ community? As a country, it is true that we fall together and apart almost every other day. Today, we believe that as a community, one thing that we have never willingly accepted as humans is a possibility of change in human sexuality. Why do men have to act like a man and women have to act like a woman? Why are we taught that men will be men and women will be, well, mere reproductive systems? We have been following this mindlessly even when we are the country that gave the world the ancient Indian text Kamasutra with a complete chapter solely dedicated to the erotic homosexual behavior. Indeed our mind works weird. We are unwilling to accept what already has been in our country ever since we started as a literate civilization.

LGBTQ+ stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer, asexual, and many similar terms (non-binary or pansexual) that are used to denote the gay community. It is a loosely defined group of people who identify themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or as a part of subcultures, LGBT organizations, formed by a common culture and social movements. In India alone, LGBTQ+ has been documented several times. Recently, when homosexuality was unbanned in India, several ancient theories, facts, and opinions surfaced to JUSTIFY that a change in human sexuality is not unnatural. According to the Supreme Court in 2012 and as per the government of India, there were over 2.5 million gay people in India. Have you ever thought why, even with such a staggering number of LGBTQ+ people in our country, we are unwilling to accept that human sexuality can be different than what we have been perceiving it as all our lives?            

Who are they?

    LGBTQ+ community is full of people who identify themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, pansexual, asexual, and people who accept these people as they are in their lives. 

•    Currently, there is no concrete data on how many LGBTQ+ people are there across the globe. 

•    This can be widely due to the fear of being rejected as individuals by people around them or they are too afraid to admit that they are a part of the LGBTQ+ community.

•    Leaving aside the whole world for a minute, let’s talk about our country. In India itself, there are thousands of youngsters, adults, transgender, even old people who are struggling each day to hide their sexuality. 

•    LGBTQ+ people have to pretend in a society that considers change in sexuality or sexual preferences as a disease or a phase which will eventually goes away.

    When we wish life to be easier during the pandemic; quick food services, no load shedding, easy availability of essential services, little breaks from isolation, permission to meet near and dear ones, quick access to ATMs/Parlours/Grocery stores, and for breathable face masks, we must take a moment to realize that there are people who have been living in isolation ever since they came out to their families. We are talking about the transgender community struggling to survive in India. Our Indian cinema is currently working towards surfacing their problems, issues, sacrifices, and conditions in front of the whole world.

At this time, during the pandemic, deaths, and cruelty against innocent lives, it is almost crucial that we realize the transgender community in India is struggling to survive. With no place to call home, no family to go to like the migrant workers, no source of income due to the nation-wide lockdown, and no means of earning due to no jobs for them, they are facing severe consequences of this global pandemic. Alongside them, there are youngsters and adults trapped in isolation with their oppressing, stereotypical, and conventional families. They are struggling each and every day to hide their sexuality and sexual preferences, constantly living the treat of their parents or family finding out about them, too tensed to be vocal and upfront about their choices, getting forced to get married and getting domestically abused.

He/She or IT? 

    Weren’t as kids we were always told to stay away from them, those kinds of people? We never exactly questioned who they were and what our parents meant by 'those kinds of people.' The death glare from our parents never allowed us to have the audacity to question their commands which is why we never did it. However, today, as an adult or an individual with brain, sight, and sense, we question ourselves, who exactly are they? What do we call them?  

The dilemma is not just with us. LGBTQ+ community struggles with the same dilemma projected at them through glares, stares, ever teasing, lustrous hand waves every other day. As if these were not enough, they are catcalled every single day. From "Chakka" to "Abe O Hijde", they gulp each insult with a broad smile. We must realize that despite over a thousand LGBTQ+ movements, rallies, fights, and marches across the globe it just seems that we deliberately want to keep our eyes closed to the fact that they are humans as well. It does not matter what they identify themselves as, which is why if you want to address them, talk to them, or ask, before assuming. They deserve to be treated, loved, and respected just like any other individual. LGBTQ+ rights allow them the right to dignity and live free of discrimination. Homosexuality is a part of human sexuality. Homosexual people need not to prove their gender to qualify as humans. 

Despite all the changes, law enforcement, and numerous pride parades, people still are not willing to accept the LGBTQ+ community as a crucial part of society. Besides this, they live under constant pressure and a threat to even to reveal their sexual identity for they have the instilled fear of being insulted, bullied, beaten, or forced to live a certain way by their family, people of social community, and society. There have been many recorded instances where LGBTQ+ couples have been beaten to a pulp and even death at times. LGBTQ+ genders are not identified as people for their fall under the other category. We think it’s about time that we change.   

Love Is LOVE

    We don't look at love as something gooey. Why? It breaks thousands of hearts, punishes people, pushes them, holds them down, forces them to hold on to it, and suffer internally eternally. However, we don't. We, despite knowing that, don't consider love as gooey. Why? Because we weren't taught that, right? We were taught that love is an amazing feeling that uplifts you, encourages you to become a better version of yourself, pushes you to do better- for yourself and the person you love, makes you feel wonderful things, brings butterflies in the tummy and so much more! This is exactly why it seems so astonishing and at the same time extremely aggravating to see girls being punished for liking girls, a guy being thrashed for loving a guy, a man forced to get married because he suggested living in with his boyfriend, and transgender being catcalled by people with 2 children at home in the middle of a traffic jam.

Now that we both agree that love is LOVE, it is must that we raise our voice for the LGBTQ+ community to have a socially acceptable position in the social structure of society. They do not deserve adverted eyes, they deserve respect, recognition, and reciprocation as much as any other living being. It is time that we, as a community, realize that the people of the LGBTQ+ community are people and they are not a threat to our society, culture, or tradition in any manner. We believe that in order for change to surface, we just need to scratch hypocrisy and stereotypes from our hearts.  

Phoenix Pads supports LGBTQ+ community and stands strong on voicing their opinions and discrimination they face in their daily lives. At Phoenix Pads, we believe that not all those who bleed are women, but all those who suffer deserve to have their voices heard. We love LOVE and we aren’t afraid to show it. Phoenix Pads recently came across some people from LGBTQ+ community who were more than happy to share their experience and tell us about their lives after coming out in front of their friends and family. 

If could go back in time and change my sexuality from the beginning, I wouldn’t because it made me the person I’m today so proud, so confident and so humble, I doubt I can trade this version of me with any other.

- Vibhore Kumar, 19, First year/business, Manipal University, Karnataka

You can check rest of the stories in our Instagram highlights. 

Happy Pride Month, Everyone! All Lives Matter, Hai na?