'Be more human'

A discourse on Religion, Inclusiveness and Sexual Minorities organized by Sangama and Aneka found religious leaders unanimously supporting the Supreme Court's move on Article 377

A discourse on Religion, Inclusiveness and Sexual Minorities organized by Sangama and Aneka found religious leaders unanimously supporting the Supreme Court's move on Article 377

It was phenomenal to say the least. The fact that all our speakers were in favour of the judgement, opened many eyes. Religious leaders have been the loudest and often the most volatile protesters against the
judgement in the last few months, but now one wonders if it was just the media hyping their reactions.

Swamy Agnivesh, who signed one of the first letters drafted in protest against the Article 377 several years ago, spoke about justice, equality and non-discrimination being the essence of religion. "This is not a struggle for the minorities alone, it is a struggle for all of us. We've lived with such a discriminating Article for so long that we don't seem to realise how liberated we are now that it's on its way out," he said. He roused the audience with his clarion call to continue the struggle and with raised clenched fist the audience pledged that they would not retreat.

This seemed to set the tone for the heartening positive discourse.

Revathy, a leader from Sangama brought in an extensive cultural perspective as she narrated stories from the Bible and the Ramayana that upheld the position of transgenders in those societies. "We live in a community, that is proudly inter-religious," she said as she spoke about the Hijra community. She proved her point by tracing the multi-religious family trees, several members of her community claim descent from.

Dr Agsar Ali brought in another religious perspective when he reminded the audience that, "Homosexuality is an age old practice and even Babar u2013 the Mughal King, had a boy friend, which he mentioned in his diary."

"I realised the seriousness of the need to support the judgement, when a mere mention of my support on a television channel, got me the most negative response from fellow Hindu leaders. If I was a man of stature and position and still faced such torments, it just makes one realise what the condition of the sexual minorities are.

They need all the support they can get," Swamy Agnivesh added.

That sounds right: Dinesh Ghodke from the Art of Living looks on	I support the cause: Swami Agnivesh

Dr. Saleem Kidwai flagged a few issues before the audience and said that being gay and being Muslim made him realise that in some sense the forces that supposedly oppose him were actually similar. Either one of his identities, complement each other. The battle he said eventually was a political one.

I welcome the move: Actor Abhinaya shows her support

"If there is a god who discriminates people on the basis of their sexuality, I don't want to be associated with such a god," said Christopher Rajkumar of the National Council of Churches. "We need to be better humans. We need to be more human," he added.

"There is a need for a more inclusive church, and this struggle has to be seen as one for justice," said Father KC Abraham from the Ecumenical Church, adding to the supportive voice being expressed.

Guruji Vinayakar agreed with everyone else when he said, "Divinity is in everyone and that has to be respected.
Perversity is when we fail to recognise this in anyone and believe that we have the authority to discriminate."

Sri Sri Ravishankar couldn't make it to the discourse but his disciple Dinesh Ghodke shared his message of greetings and support with the audience present. Dinesh also spoke of the values of patience, compassion and courage from the sexual minority community. Keeping in mind the reactions the country is seeing, it was far too obvious that religion, or at least non political-religion, if something like that exists, is not really the most obvious enemy. The biggest enemies are the religious contractors, who take their positions and push ideas that will ensure that the multi-billion dollar industry that they have built flourishes, under the ever-conspicuous name of faith.

(Shubha Chacko works with Aneka)