The Straight Voice of Gaysi
Another new blogging project. My brief – to be the straight voice of a gay desi blog – Gaysi. I’m excited.
I wonder who the readers of my Gaysi posts will be. Will they be gays and lesbians? If so, will they have any interest in what a straight person thinks of homosexuality? Will they be people like me, straight and opinionated, in which case I’ll essentially be preaching to the converted? Will they be homophobes? And with the last question I recoil immediately. I’ve met with so many of those, especially recently, that I think I’m homophobic-phobic! As homosexuality comes out of its closet in India, so do the homophobes and to me they are no less despicable than fundamentalists opposing something they are afraid of rather than in disagreement with.
Anyway, I tell myself not to agonize (as I’m wont to do always) too much about who’s reading. So I switch to agonizing over what my co-bloggers here think. What does a gay person feel about a straight person? Do they ever find my views presumptuous, considering I am not really in the same experiences as they are? Do they ever resent the fact that my lifestyle choices are more mainstream and enjoy unquestioned acceptance while they have to fight for what (we all believe) is rightfully their choice? Being a straight writer for Gaysi will be much more learning for me than for the readers.
And finally, I must admit I wonder what everyone thinks of me. A friend has taken to calling me a lesbian magnet since I made the huge mistake of telling him about a time a woman hit on me. I started off thinking I was standing up for my friends’ choices but I find I end up having to defend my own as well. I particularly like what Raghu Ram (producer, audition judge of MTV Roadies, yeah the bald guy) says in HT Cafe today,
We are not strictly pro-homosexuality or pro live-in relationships. We’re pro-choice. And pro-tolerance. I can’t help but notice that intolerance comes from ignorance, and the saddest part is we don’t even try to find out about a subject before forming an opinion or passing a judgment, because it outrages our sense of morality.
I recently spoke to another blogger about Gaysi and he smiled and asked,
Great but why the clarification on the ‘straight’ part?
Awww hell, why does sexuality have to be such a loaded issue carrying so many fears and insecurities? Bleh, at least I’m not going to run short of things to talk about (yup, you guessed it, that was worry no.2 which mercifully gets struck out now). Come join me while I take a walk down this rainbow alley called Gaysi.
@ rambler: I guess they don’t have to and yet we need validation from society as a whole. I guess I have my own issues to sort out.
I really like what your friend had to say, to be honest somewhere the title of this post too, gives an impression of clearing the air. So why do we need to?. I mean why do people apart from our partners need to be told our sexual preferences.