Re: State-supported oppressionof sexual minorities in INDIA

[Guest guest]

Dear friends,

This is in response to the Statement by Mr. Aditya Bondyopadhyay in Geneva at

the UNCHR NGO Briefing, United Nations Commission on Human Rights. This a

beautiful and critically important statement....let me add a small

perspective.

" ...To maintain its reputation, India often offers lip service to received

understandings in the area of international human rights. But in the case

of sexual minorities, its practice is often remote from its promises. .... "

One could easily replace " India " with " Untied States " ...

Indeed, some of the so-called " friends " of the community did NOTHING for

lesbian and gay rights until there were concerted, direct actions. I

remember in the early 90s that we (the group, " Queer Nation " ) targeted the

public television station, channel 13. This is an educational station and

full of friends supposedly. So why target them for action?

Because they did nothing on our issues.

Now, years later, they do. And there are even programs, such as they are,

like Will and Grace. Does that matter? Yes, I think it does as one piece of the

big puzzle. And speeches like this one are part of that effort!!

Direct action--what makes sense from the local needs and situation--is an

important strategy to consider.

One other point when dealing with the more vicious homophobes. Bear in mind

that most of them are probably just wannabe...well, I don't want to use a

term that might offend some delicate sensibilities...shall we say

fellatilists? (And I don't mean stamp collectors....) See below...

****

HE; LW Jr; Lohr BA. Is homophobia associated with homosexual

arousal? J Abnorm Psychol 1996 Aug;105(3):440-445.

Department of Psychology, University of Georgia, Athens 30602-3013, USA.

The authors investigated the role of homosexual arousal in exclusively

heterosexual men who admitted negative affect toward homosexual

individuals. Participants consisted of a group of homophobic men (n = 35)

and a group of nonhomophobic men (n = 29); they were assigned to groups on

the basis of their scores on the Index of Homophobia (W. W. Hudson & W. A.

Ricketts, 1980). The men were exposed to sexually explicit erotic stimuli

consisting of heterosexual, male homosexual, and lesbian videotapes, and

changes in penile circumference were monitored. They also completed an

Aggression Questionnaire (A. H. Buss & M. , 1992). Both groups

exhibited increases in penile circumference to the heterosexual and female

homosexual videos. Only the homophobic men showed an increase in penile

erection to male homosexual stimuli. The groups did not differ in

aggression. Homophobia is apparently associated with homosexual arousal

that the homophobic individual is either unaware of or denies.

M.

E-mail: <gmc0@...>

______________________________