Outlook LGBTQ- All Issues
HERE are inherent challenges when one works on an issue like this one LGBTQs. The first is to treat them, not as non-mainstream, but an inherent and natural part of our society. If they are always perceived as separate, as apart from the mainstream, we fail to integrate them cohesively and harmoniously. We need to consider them like any other individual; hetero and homo are two sides of the same societal coin. Yet, sections within the society have distinct identities, like every person has. An individual can be a north Indian, one who hails from Punjab, as also a Dalit or Brahmin. Similarly, a person can be a man, woman, third gender, man and woman, woman and man, and so on. Any mainstreaming has to be delicate; it has be a melting pot where each flavor stands out with its own unique taste. Another issue is the portrayal of LGBTQs. Since mass entertainment and information construct rigid stereotypes of people with differing identities, an issue like this has to deliberately and compulsively wean away from them. One has to show them as normal people, with varying physicality and sexual tendencies, but with similar emotions, feelings, and desires. They are like any neighbour we confront in our residential localities, offices, and markets. They may look and feel different, but these are like the ones that exist between people from different regions, communities, ethnic groups, religions, and even classes and castes. In the end, we are humans.
