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Humour by Rehana Munir: Everybody needs a rainbow
It’s Pride Month in the US and elsewhere, and we should all be celebrating, helping to uplift and support LGBTQIA+ rights
I’m writing this standing up, like both Ernest Hemingway and Virginia Woolf famously did, lest anyone think of writers as a somnolent species, lazily nibbling the backs of their quills while sprawled in a bed filled with cookie crumbs. “Papa” Hemingway has for decades been held up as the gold standard for fiction-writing, with millions worshipping at the altar of his staccato stories’ hypermasculinity. Woolf, meanwhile, is known as the woman-loving-woman feminist author, who, among other stream-of-consciousness novels, wrote Orlando, in which the sex of the protagonist changes from century to century. Machismo vs Fluidity. Two strong images to contend with during what is known as ‘Pride Month’—a celebration of queer identities—in the US and elsewhere in the world.
Woke but not awake
The gender wars have, until recently, been dominated by the Johnny Depp vs Amber Heard courtroom drama, with aggrieved Depp fans usually muscling their way into 1,000-word online discussions and late-night party conversations, where passionate arguers try hard to maintain their wokeness, if not wakefulness. But the gender debate is equally spirited and often ugly within the LGBTQ+ community. Who gets to host the pride party, for instance, the gay men or the lesbians? The conversation around heterosexual and cisgender privilege is always animated. Trans issues never get enough attention, even within the queer community. But at least everyone agrees that the bisexuals deserve universal contempt.
In this regard, Vikram Seth’s Dubious, lamenting his suspect status, bears repeating in full:
Some men like Jack and some like Jill
I’m glad I like them both but still
I wonder if this freewheeling
Really is an enlightened thing,
Or is its greater scope a sign
Of deviance from some party line?
In the strict ranks of Gay and Straight
What is my status: Stray? Or Great?
Rainbow people
It’s a joy to see what all has been legally achieved in the realm of equal rights in India. In 2016, I was part of a protest asking for a curative petition to review the 2013 ruling that upheld the regressive Section 377 of the Constitution, criminalising homosexuality. It was a purposeful, silent gathering at Chowpatty in south Mumbai, with members of the community and allies joining hands. But the fire and fury of the rainbow-coloured posters and apparel of the protestors instilled a sense of hope which, in judicial terms, seemed a slim possibility. Then, on September 6, 2018, after much effort from petitioners, lawyers and allies, consensual gay sex was legalised. Like many others, I rushed out of home, without any real sense of how to celebrate such a miraculous moment.
That evening, the Carter Road promenade in Mumbai’s gentrified Bandra was like a hot air balloon filled with the light-headed and -hearted; sweets were being distributed, tears shed, songs sung. India, it seemed, had reclaimed all her colours; three were never enough. In my first queer party, not long after, I discovered what it feels like to be in a public space where the straight male gaze is entirely absent. Flamboyance was the new normal. And boy, was there dancing to Bappi Lahiri.
My funny valentine
The queer film festival, Kashish, ended earlier this month, and I have ogled the merry attendees via pictures like they were fashionistas from Cannes’ Extreme Eye Make-up edition, feat. Deepika; or KJo’s Covid-flavoured birthday bash. I can’t cheer loudly enough for Badhaai Do (2022), a real coming-of-age for the queer comedy in Bollywood, until now plagued by either coyness, dreariness, OTTness or all of the above. To see nuances of gender and orientation play out in an entertaining film meant for all desi viewers is gratifying.
Of course, laws and cultural artefacts do not always reflect the ground situation. There’s so much work to do, both within and outside our homes. From correcting an ignorant parent who mocks an effete waiter to questioning our own prejudice when it comes to masculine-presenting women, it’s a full-time job, this sensitisation business. But progress is visible, at least in certain quarters. My niece informs me that those who identify as merely straight are in the minority on her college campus. Time to unleash this Valentine’s Day parody from the Shits Academics Say feed:
Roses are red
Gender is performative
Mass-market romance
Is heteronormative.
From HT Brunch, June 18, 2022
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