‘My Gayness Won’t Make Your Child Gay, Uncle’

Yes, I am gay.
And I will be gay.
I will be gay even you say, “It’s just a phase.”
I will be gay each time you tell me to make more girlfriends than boys.
I will be gay each time you blame social media for it.
Because queerness was always at the core of our own Indian culture.
So, let’s rewind.
The Kamasutra mentioned physical pleasure in male-male unions,
While Bengal folklore tells the story of two widows in a relationship.
So. the next time you call me ‘unreligious’ for being gay,
Remember that bhakti saints in the old day would effeminate them to worship Krishna and Shiva.
Love is always love.
It is pure and endless without any colour, any gender, any culture.
Love is for everybody.
And I promise, my gayness won’t make your child gay, uncle.

So how does a queer person look?
Unnatural, according to you of course.
So wearing rainbow-shaded lipstick with a pink dress maybe?
No, I can be gay in black suit, I can be gay in a purple gown, I can be gay in any gender because gender and sexuality are always different.
I don’t need to look gay to be gay
I can be gay and masculine. Only if you cleanse your definition of masculinity.
And yes,
Being straight doesn’t make you more normal.
Being straight doesn’t owe you a medal for “still remembering your tradition”.
Being straight doesn’t mean to not be affected by westernisation.
It was Mr Thomas Macaulay who introduced Section 377, and I am sure he didn’t sound “Indian” enough.
So dear people, next time don’t call me western enough for being gay.
Call me Indian enough for being gay.
For pride is not against Indian culture, it was always at the core of it.

Anusmita Sinha is a 17- year-old from West Bengal. She performs spoken word poetry often at open mics and loves books and nights. She is unrealistically in love with cactus and is a mother of nine cacti. She is an aspiring law student, who is preparing for her law exam.

Featured image: John Anvik / Unsplash