Fear of 2017

Imagine a man in a sexy velvet red dress with stilettos! How do you feel? Picturing a man in a girly dress can be really odd and difficult to eyes. Well, we hardly can have a picture as such, isn’t it? And not to blame anyone on this but it is what the mind of ours has been shaped over years. But in upcoming years, this picture could come up to one’s mind with more clarity if we learn to accept the different sexual orientations; not just in norms but with our hearts too.

The society is changing and that is the one constant thing. The society has seen revolution on mankind and its societal norms. We have been dealing with the caste, race, gender equality, feminism and a long list of issues. Coming to this time, we have accepted the changes over the matter of inter-caste marriages. We live in a 21st century; but we still act by surprise when a guy says his favorite color is “Pink”. All of a sudden, we question his sexual orientation. “What will be our reaction if our children say to us that they belong to LGBTI community? Will you be ready to accept the fact?

It is sad to know that the human if doesn’t possess a straight sexual orientation has to hide his identity and be enforced to live a life that he does not want to. Possessing the same physical construct yet human beings differ from various regions of the worlds. The set of culture we have also shapes our mind, perception and our daily lifestyle. But, if we have been through so much of changes, let’s start early rather than wait for a decade. Well, the world has started responding to this matter positively. The White House has appointed Raffi Freedman-Gurspana, first openly transgender staff member as an outreach and recruitment director for presidential personnel in the White House Office of Presidential Personnel. Nepal legalized recognition of third category “other” in 2007.

We have our own set of beliefs and human beings are adaptive to change. Why not they are the one responsive to changes?
The mind shaping and the behavior come from our family and society. However, today all of us are exposed to the new world where everyone seeks the freedom of thought. We are no longer bound to say yes to the things we don’t like, but still, due to the societal norms, our thoughts lack behind.

Acceptance is definitely hard. As a straight individual, it is hard for us to accept the LGBTI community. People show support to the community and still when one of the family member belongs to the LGBTI community; cheeks becomes red and hesitates to say “my brother, my sister, my best friend, my father, my mother”.

Bold are those who have come forward and expressed themselves as a gay or lesbian and have demanded their right. The issues of LGBTI are not of today. If we look at our religious bulky books, we have “Ardhanarishvara”, one of the most powerful half god shiv and half goddess parbati, possessing the qualities of both male and female. But people think LGBTI community is introduced recently in the society. Well, it was always there, always! It’s just that people used to hide it but now, people have started to accept their identity and are fighting for their rights. And we as a society should accept them and support them.

Change is inevitable. The theory of Charles Darwin states that, “It’s not the strongest of species that survives nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change”. Let us welcome all the nature and dimension of human form. Let’s change to become a little more human.

Anusuya Puri is Project Manager (Center of Resilent Development).
She has a Masters degree in Social Work with specialization in HR and psychology