NO MORE PROTOCOLS

Of late I saw a Sean Penn starrer flick called “MILK”. The narration of this film is carried out by Harvey Milk speaking into a tape recorded in 1978, dictating a letter to be read (or in this case, listened to) only in the event of his assassination. As he narrates, we catch glimpses of Milk in front of various groups, giving speeches, using attention-getting opening lines that vary with every crowd. In front of Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender (LGBT) crowds, he opens with "My name is Harvey Milk and I want to recruit you." In front of burly straight union workers, he opts for, "My name is Harvey Milk, and sorry I am not what you expected, but I left my high heels at home".

The film flash-forwards a little and "meet cute" turns into a relationship for Milk and Smith, with the formerly business-like Milk growing his hair long and sporting a scraggly beard. Smith gets a little mustache with a short Jack Tripper style haircut. The two drive cross country with a home movie camera, aping it up for each other, having a great time.

Milk and Smith kiss openly, excited to be in business, and the neighbor makes his displeasure known. Milk says they are opening their business and asked how they could become members of the Eureka Valley Merchant's Association. The neighbor tells them they can't become members because if they open their shop, the police will close them down. Milk says it's not against the law to open a business, and the neighbor says "There are man's laws, and there is God's law", and storms across the street back to his liquor store making it clear gay men aren't welcome in the Castro.

In a nutshell this movie portrays the story of Milk and Smith and how they fight for the rights of the Gay community. Untill I saw this movie I did not bother much about the homosexual relationships. But I was really moved by watching this movie.

Now if we talk about the western culture we can find out that western people really do not make a fuss about LGTBs . They are pretty much in favour of homosexual relationships and I think their conception make them so much different from Indians. For that matter if we talk about Indian cinema then we can see that we do have Indian movies related to homosexuality but the viewer ship is almost nil and on the other hand mostly in the minds of Indians the tagline remains “love is blind”… ironical isn’t it? If they consider love to be blind then why can’t they accept homosexuality? Gays are normal human beings like any other person then why can’t they move around freely in India?

If a person wants to spend his/her life with a person of the same sex then why does he/she have to think over it again and again? It is his / her life and only he/ she has the right to take decisions and make choices. Why do they have to answer each and everyone? And why do they have to always listen that this is against ‘the law of nature’?

Nature has not made any such kind of law it is only within the minds of people.

If I can understand the pain, the agony, the humiliation these homosexuals are undergoing,then why can’t the rest of people think likewise?

We can see a number of Gays and Lesbians especially amongst youngsters. If they go out together or hold hands then people make a fuss about it or pretend as if they are eye candies. And if we talk about students who are homosexuals, they have to give so many explanations if they want to rent a house or take Pg accommodations. The scenario is worst in India.

But the Delhi HC has finally legalised homosexual acts between consenting adults by overturning a 149 year-old law. Justice A.P. Shah and S Muralidhar declared unconstitutional a part of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) that criminalized unnatural sex.

The court held that the provision violated fundamental rights of sexual minorities to life, liberty, equality and the provision regarding prohibition of discrimination on grounds of sex.

So finally it is the time for jubilation for Gay communities. Now even they can live a carefree life.