1. Gay And God: An Endless Battle
Between Sexual Freedom And
Religion
By Kritika Pramod Kulshrestha

2. The Gay Marriage rights
• In November 2012, French President Francois Hollande took
one step ahead towards ushering in change into French
society, with his liberal-thinking plans to introduce gay
marriage and adoption rights.
• With the gay marriage bill set to be debated in parliament in
January, Hollande’s support for gay rights, subsequently led
to anti-gay street demonstrations, creating a rift within
French society.
• Thousands of people, including Catholic and other religious
groups, descended onto the streets of Lyon, Marseille, and
Toulouse to protest against the bill which legalizes same-sex
marriages and allows gay couples to adopt, giving them full
parenting rights.

3. • Despite fierce opposition from mayors and the Catholic
Church, Hollande’s socialist government approved the bill in
November, 2012.
• Hollande’s reform is an extension of existing gay rights,
which will allow gay couples in civil unions to marry, since
marriage is mandatory for legally adopting in France.
• Many countries across the globe, including, South Africa,
Canada, Spain, and the Netherlands have legalized gay
marriages and France is set to become the 12th.
• Despite the Roman Catholic’s stronghold in the Spanish
society, since 2005 more than 21,000 gay couples have been
legally married.

4. Greater tolerance! Needed
• While the flag-bearers of religious sentiments condemn gay
rights and still consider homosexuality a taboo, and others
define marriage as a “legal union between a man and a
woman” only, the truth is that gays have the right to lead a
life of dignity.
• Recently, in India, hundreds of gay rights activists
participated in a protest march in New Delhi where they
openly demonstrated their angst at being discriminated
against.
• Although, a 2009 Delhi High Court order decriminalized
homosexuality and “recognized sexual orientation as a human
right”, the taboo still remains in the remotest corners of the
country.

5. Liberal thinking towards LGBT
• In India, where religion and tradition command our actions
and our thoughts, it is difficult to make people realize that
homosexuality is not a crime; that religious sentiments
cannot be hurt if one is gay.
• Every person has the right to live with dignity and freedom
and we, as educated, thinking individuals have to be more
accepting of people’s sexual preferences.
• As Indians, we need to take an assertive stand on the issue of
gay rights in India.
• Opening our minds will ensure progress not just for us but
also for society as a whole.
• We need to revolt against the conservative oppression that
the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT)
community is subjected to.

6. • Gays should not feel the need to wear masks and scarves to
hide their faces.
• Hate crimes against homosexuals have to be dealt with rapid
and strict action.
• While the pace of change will be slow people have to realize
that HIV/AIDS is not exclusively a gay disease and
homosexuals can make responsible parents too.

7. Some alterations wouldn’t hurt
• Our traditional concept of the family as being a father,
mother, and child will have to undergo reform and consider
the new possibilities of co-mothers or co-fathers taking care
of their legally adopted children.
• It will be quite some time before the tussle between religious
sentiments and traditions and sexual freedom will come to an
end in India and in many other countries.
• Until then, we have to seize every opportunity to shun our
dogmatic values and embrace with care the new changes in
society.

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