Borderless Love

“With time to celebrate the essence of human freedom, it is also important to realize that due to a law as obscene as Section 377, many people must have spent their lives alone afraid to break the law, afraid of their own individuality.”

Photo Credits - Sanchit Das

The Supreme Court of India finally decriminalised Section 377. After 158 years of this irrational colonial law against homosexuality, it was finally scraped off this year.

Rohit Bhalla, 24, fashion student, says, “I am happy about Section 377 finally scraped off. But, at the same time, I know society is still not ready with this concept. I will be happy when the society will change. Even after decriminalising Section 377, if I kiss another man in public, people will stare at us like we are aliens and committing a crime even when it’s not one in the law anymore.”

What the society foolishly ignored for over a century is that people with different sexual orientations and sexuality did not suddenly erupt, they have been and are a part of civilisation since mankind itself.

For India has acknowledged homosexuality and transsexuals in numerous ancient, mythological and vedic scriptures, it is a pity that it took over a century to accept and stop this irrational discrimination against humans. Take the case of Mahabharata, the Indian epic masterpiece: in one of the fantastic episodes of the poem, Arjuna, the main hero, is cursed to spend a year of his life as a eunuch, and is transformed into Brihannala, a music and dance teacher.

Indian mythological scriptures like Ramayana and Shiva Purana also talk of ritualistic homosexual and bisexual encounters between the Gods.

Adding more to the irony, homosexuals and trans genders are categorised as a separate community, labelled as LGBTQ community, like they are a different breed.

Commenting on categorising a separate community altogether, Shiva, 26, shows us it’s positive side. He adds, “I feel a community is necessary because a force is needed to educate society as well as fight for their rights and that would not be possible individually. However, they should not be categorised as different from the rest."

Maybe the society’s stigma about different sexual orientations and sexuality has turned out to be a medium for people to connect over the same cause and call this unity of humans as the LGBTQ community.

With this irrational law striked off of the constitution of India, Love once again goes free. Indian writers and artists like Ismat Chugtai and Deepa Mehta had started their revolt against this inhuman law long before. Women’s sexuality has often been supressed for the cause of men’s sexuality and in the case of lesbianism, it was said to be a phase of revolt against men to stop sexual advances and consequent pregnancy.

Desexualizing women, supressing their sexuality, criticizing their urges have always been a power-play of the patriarchal rule. But, the world is changing now, with feminism and the dissolved Section 377, it is time to celebrate human liberty.

The Indian Government had been punishing people for over 150 years under Section 377, which states any homosexual activity as “unnatural offences” and whoever is involved in same gender sex is punishable for up to 10 years under the 1861 law.

Social Media Influencer ( @mr.fashionality) quotes, “I believe that rules are really important, it makes the functioning for the entire human race better. But the thought of even drafting a law to control or narrow anybody’s sexual preference towards only the opposite sex is not going to help anybody, in any possible way."

But no more, no more.

Same sex love and transsexualism is an individual’s personal choice and has nothing to do with their identity. Classifying someone as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transsexual is devaluing them as humans and supressing their individuality. But, love has no labels.

If a person is involved in consensual sex, it is their own free will. Depriving these people the freedom of choice and expression has deprived them of Human Rights for 158 Years. We, as a society owe an apology to humanity for giving irrational preferences to a specific sexual orientation.

Shiva Bhushan, 26, being on the conventional side of sexuality, says, “Labels make people who dare to sway from society’s norms feel like outsiders. Everyone is the same and no body deserves to be treated differently based on their choice of who they want to love.”

With time to celebrate the essence of human freedom, it is also important to realize that due to a law as obscene as Section 377, many people must have spent their lives alone afraid to break the law, afraid of their own individuality. We as a society should always remember how many lives must have been lived inside the closet and swear to never let ignorance take over humanity again.

Finally, love is free in India. Love that has conquered all. A connection between two souls, that doesn’t see race, caste, creed, religion or gender. Love doesn’t see time, circumstances or opportunities, it is timeless. Like two souls connected, mingling their energies, love is powerful and has no bounds.

To put it simply for the conventional minds, ‘Love is a river. It is free from all boundaries. It is powerful like river currents, fierce and rebellious like a river-storm, timeless and ageless like a waterfall. Like a river breaks free from all boundaries, crossing continents and merging into one another, love breaks free of all forms and shapes and merges into the soul of another.'

Just like a river, love is timeless, colourless, ageless and forever borderless.