‘Ukhand culture unreceptive to Gays’

By PRABEER SIKDAR
DEHRADUN, 9 July: For the time being, the Delhi High Court judgment on Section 377 IPC may have put an end to the Gay community’s hide ‘n’ seek with the police, but it has also opened a Pandora’s box in the process.
“It is because what may hold true for the gay community in Delhi, may not hold good for their counterparts in the closed society of Dev Bhoomi,” says Shanta Kothari, Project Director of Himalayan Institute for Environment, Ecology & Development (HIFEED), the only NGO in Uttarakhand that works with MSM (men who have sex with men) population.
Kothari says that a situation when gays are found acceptable in society would take more than 20 years in Doon. “It’s easy for Gay community members to find acceptability in metros, but difficult in small places where the threat of social jeers and ostracism is great.”For the record, according to Kothari, the ‘networked’ gay community is 1500 member strong in Uttarakhand. “We are already in contact with 500 members, who regularly participate in our counseling and outreach workshops,” discloses Kothari, pointing out that HIFEED’s USACS supported Target Intervention Project (TIP) for the MSM is run in Districts of Doon, Pithoragarh Haridwar, Nainital and Udham Singh Nagar.
Commenting on the reasons leading to development of such practices, she mainly blames child abuse as one of the foremost reasons. “Those who were sexually exploited in their young age, gradually and unintentionally, develop MSM practices,” she explains, while also counting the role of peer pressure and hormonal factors.
The biggest disadvantage for gay couples relates to attaining parenthood, even if Section 377 is completely abrogated by Parliament. “Surrogacy is definitely a solution, but any ‘well-settled’ MSM couple would find it difficult to find a surrogate mother,” Kothari points out, maintaining that ‘MSMs are always regarded as a High Risk Behaviour Group compared to heterosexuals’.
The age group of MSM population in Doon, who are said to prefer gay hot spots like Gandhi Park in the city, is said to be between 15-50 years. “They are from all sections of society: Well-to-do, middle class and economically poor, including government employees.”According to Kothari, there have been instances where they have even come across commercial male sex workers in Doon. HIFEED, to carry out awareness among gays, has also appointed peer educators, who are retained on honorarium basis and visit gay hot spots to enlighten them about HIV/AIDS, STDs. Throwing light on the legality of the Delhi High Court judgment, Advocate Sarit Sharma said that the ‘judgment holds good for the gay population in Delhi until it is passed or rejected by Delhi government or overruled by the apex court’. Technically speaking, it means, a consenting gay couple in Delhi, if found by the police cannot be arrested till the operation of the Delhi High Court ruling, while the same in Uttarakhand, would still attract the wrath of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code.(HIFEED also offers counseling for gays. It can be contacted at 0135-2666865).
http://www.garhwalpost.com/index.php?mod=article&cat=GupShup&article=1525