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Many of us come from backgrounds where we are taught to view homosexuality as being wayward. It's time we stop judging.
Many of us come from backgrounds where we are taught to view homosexuality as being wayward. It’s time we stop judging.
The Orlando mass shooting at the gay nightclub came as a big blow to the whole world. It’s recorded as one of the worst mass shootings that has taken place ever in the history of United States of America. The man behind the killing Omar Mateen was angered by the sight of two men kissing. Fuming with anger, he opened fire at the club killing 50 and wounding 53 people.
Perpetrator Omar Mateen was angered, seeing two individuals of the same gender together, which confirms that he probably was taught to view homosexuality as unnatural. This resulted in a horrendous hate crime. And this is not just his story. Most of us have been brought up with the same notion that homosexuality and gays as being abnormal. Keeping personal religious beliefs aside, homosexuality is an alternate sexual orientation just as bisexuality and heterosexuality.
Genetics, hormones and environmental factors play a significant role in people who are homosexuals. Scientific research considers homosexuality as being normal and it is a different variation in human sexuality. I think youngsters need to be made aware of these facts at any early stage, so that they do not get perturbed on seeing two individuals of the same gender together. Being educated enough on the subject would prevent hate crimes like the Orlando massacre.
Homosexuality was always considered to be a taboo subject in India. It’s not easy to be a gay in India for certain. They are judged. Gays are often mocked in movies and are the prime subject of jokes. Not very often you would see gays holding hands in public. Not very often gays come out, fearing discrimination. Locals and especially masses in rural parts of India would still mock and stare at gays.
But now the situation seems to be changing gradually and there is a mild shift in attitudes. According to the Pew Research Center’s 2013 global attitude survey finds acceptance of homosexuality in countries like North America, Europe and so on and rejection in muslim countries, parts of Asia and Russia.
In my view, Indian society is becoming more accepting of homosexuals. They are realizing that one may not like a particular act of a person for e.g smoking but that doesn’t give them the authority to discriminate a person based on that. I feel every individual whether straight or gay, has the right to be treated with respect irrespective of their sexual orientation.
Image Source – Shutterstock
Diana has worked as an Editor/Writer and Content Manager for various digital platforms and hopes that each word written in this space supports, motivates and inspires her readers in India or across seas. Besides read more...
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UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
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