Writer: Navneet

Editor: Pruthvi

The history of queerness and queer people is one that is not explored as often as others. In modern times, when we think of queer people, the names that come to our head are Kristen Stewart, Karan Johar, and Eliot Page. If we cast

our net into the sea of old history, we find many records of queerness.

Poets like Sappho of Lesbos, wrote poems that had themes of family and homosexuality amongst other things. She was known as “the Poetess' ' while Homer of Iliad, was known as her counterpart, “the Poet”. Sappho was one of the only openly homosexual women in poetry and even today her works are regarded by many as exceptional. The name of her island also became the root for the word “lesbian”.

Even Alexander the Great was thought to be queer. Many historians still debate over whether his relationship with his “close friend”, Hephaestion, with whom he shared his bed, was platonic or romantic.

With the people of the past not caring as much, why are so

many people in the present treating it as a taboo topic, especially in India?

A major reason would be religion, which plays a huge part both in the political and social spheres in India. As of 2019, survey data collected by market re

searcher YouGov shows Social acceptance of homosexuality is the highest in Delhi-NCR, closely followed by Mumbai. About 50% of the youth are supportive of same-sex relationships in these cities. The numbers are even lesser in southern India and are truly dismal.

However, there are many incidents of evidence, even in famous texts such as the Mahabharata,that queer culture was alive even back

then. Not just accepted but also celebrated. For example, in the churning of the ocean in the Matsya Purana, Lord Vishnu took the form of a woman, Mohini, to trick the demons and to help the devas in their fight against the asuras.

In the temples of Khajuraho, there are depictions of homosexual men and women indulging in erotic acts. Scholars have generally explained this as an acknowledgment that people engaged in homosexual acts.

However, I am of the opinion that it is not our religion, but our general culture that considers it taboo. While it may not sound like a big difference, it really is.

For example, Hindus, Muslims, and Christians may have different views on who is the true God, and whether you need to pray every day, but what they do agree on

is drinking coffee or tea every day.

And culture does change, over time thankfully, with the emergence of new ideas. Women protesting for the right to vote, just 100 years back was something people looked on, with derision. But today it is a normal and celebrated thing for women to vote. As such, even though people might look at queer culture with disdain, one day it will be as normal as drinking coffee, and will no longer be taboo. The numbers in a study done in the US are already showing promising results, showing around 70% of US citizens support gay marriage, up from 60% in 2015, which is a huge change. We can only hope that India will follow a similar trend.