Disturbing scenes were observed during the Delhi Pride March where members of the LGBT community were seen holding placards that appeared to spread hatred against the Hindu faith.
At the #DelhiPrideMarch pic.twitter.com/ujj7lmkaEL
— Karnika Kohli (@KarnikaKohli) November 25, 2018
People who attended the parade also appeared to target an organization which happens to be the mother of the political party that did not oppose the decriminalization of homosexuality at all.
“Sanghi gunde hoshiyar, tera samna karega pyaar!”
At the #DelhiPrideMarch pic.twitter.com/ua3t1I2TQ5
— Karnika Kohli (@KarnikaKohli) November 25, 2018
This is not something new that is observed in Pride marches. Attendees at such events are known to target Hinduism. They also appear to hold a deep grudge against the colour saffron. These events appear to be more concerned with propagating Leftist ideology than actually promoting the welfare of the LGBT community.
More importantly, such events give the impression that the LGBT community is one great monolith when everything suggests that is definitely not the case. The Kinnar Akhara was actually invited by the Akhil Bharatiya Sant Samiti (ABSS) for its two-day event at New Delhi. And Acharya Mahamandleshwar Laxmi Narayan Tripathi, head of the Kinnar akhara, supported the construction of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya.
She told Indian Express, “The Akhil Bharatiya Sant Samiti invited the Kinnar akhara for the first time… This shows the openness of the vedic sanatan dharma and that it is open to the transgender community. Today (Monday), it was clearly said…jo Ram ka hai, woh hamara hai (he who belong to Ram, is ours too).” Tripathi also rued the fact that Hindu religious institutions were administrated by the government. She said, “It is against the constitution of this country and still we are quiet… Ram mandir has to happen and it will happen.”
How did the ‘LGBT community’ that attends and organizes pride marches respond to Tripathi’s invite to an event organized by a Hindu religious organization and her comments supporting the construction of Ram Mandir? They condemned her. Instead, the Leftists focused on her caste and accused her of doing so for political gains. They issued a statement which said, “Laxmi Narayan Tripathi, a dominant-caste brahmin trans woman, has been appealing to Hindutva ideology and justifying the existence of the caste system in India ever since she began aspiring for a political position within the current ruling party. Her position negates the politics of communal harmony that is espoused by Hijras and Kinnars, who have historically maintained a syncretic faith of belonging to both Hinduism and Islam. Laxmi Narayan Tripathi’s position idealises a mythical past of the Sanatan Dharam and supports the right-wing politics of communal hatred in the guise of ‘we were always accepted’.”
The statement further says, “The establishment of the Ram Temple has been a favourite electioneering agenda that the current government has repeatedly used to mobilize votes and stir anti-Muslim sentiments among Hindu masses. Consequently, Muslims in India are facing widespread violence and persecution, and yet the State remains consistently silent through this violence. In this context, we find the statements by the Kinnar Akhara appalling and dangerous, and as members of the trans and gender-diverse communities in India we strongly condemn these statements.”
The monolithic image of the LGBT community is entirely a media creation and there’s not a shred of it on the ground. And the mainstream media appointed spokespersons for the LGBT community throw transgenders who support Hinduism under the bus. Under such circumstances, it becomes apparent that the people who appear at Pride marches are more concerned about their leftist politics than they are with the welfare of the LGBT community.
A good friend of mine, a devout Hindu who happens to be homosexual, despises Pride Marches. He tells me:
“They are unnecessary at best and those organizations sponsoring them are all anti-Hindu in animus. My loyalty is to my deity and all the dharma He (Narasimha) is an embodiment of, not to these people.”
He adds about the ‘LGBT community’:
“It’s a completely political organization relying on a deep sense of oppression and using the rhetoric of oppression which leads it to ally with leftist parties. It has inherited the same American dynamic.”
Like my friend here, I do not have any problems with the decriminalization of homosexuality as well and do not especially care about what people choose to do in their personal spaces. However, there is a certain decorum that needs to be maintained in public and the decorum to be maintained is the same for the LGBT community as it is for the heterosexual community.
The mainstream media, if it was indeed neutral, would have portrayed the divisions within the LGBT community accurately. Instead, its reportage of events gives one the impression that the LGBT community is a monolith. In the long run, it is harmful to the LGBT community. If the entire community is perceived to have a political agenda with an anti-Hindu slant, then they will make an enemy of a community the overwhelming majority of which does not bear any animosity towards them and in fact, supports them.
The LGBT community will be better served if their mainstream media appointed spokespersons to focus on the insanely high rates of HIV and psychological problems among them instead of alienating ordinary people with their anti-Hindu rhetoric. And more importantly, the media needs to understand that they do not represent the entire LGBT community but only those of a leftist political disposition.