BANGALORE, India – Gay men aren't accepted in Indian society, and as a result they have been extremely closeted.
But in the last five years, the Indian gay community has moved into and flourished on what has probably been the most accepting space they could have ever hoped to find -? the Internet.
But in India, the Net is still an urban phenomenon, available only to those who can afford to be connected as well as communicate in English. Now, the more affluent meet people online and avoid the dangers associated with cruising the streets to look for partners. But the Net is also creating new class divisions within the gay community.
"Before the Net, everyone had to go to the common
cruising areas within every city," said Elavarthi Manohar, who works with Sangama, a sexual rights organization based in Bangalore. "If you are gay or
bisexual, you know about these places. They are usually
public toilets, parks or secluded lanes, and when one
goes looking for sexual partners there, one tends to
meet people from different socioeconomic backgrounds.
You would come across servants and businessmen, so at
least some interaction across the class would happen."
But going to these "cruising areas" make gay men easy
targets for police actions.
"The police frequent these places and very commonly
either rape the men they catch there or try and extort
money from them, so I suppose from that point of view
meeting people online provides more immediate safety,"
Manohar said.
While gay online dating does not work much differently
than how it does for heterosexuals, the anonymity it
provides is of great significance in a country where gay men usually give in to family pressures and get married rather than choose to come out about their sexuality.
"They will then spend the rest of their lives
frequenting cruising areas for sexual partners," said
Chandra Shekhar Balachandran, founder of the Dharani
Trust in Bangalore. "What they do not understand is that they are under enormous threat of contracting STDs and AIDS, which they will probably go home and pass on to their wives.
Balachandran started KhushNet – one of the most popular Indian gay mailing lists while he was in the United States.
"The Net does isolate groups as far as connectivity
goes," Balachandran said. "But about the language
barrier, I have noticed that just a basic familiarity
with English is enough. People tend to create their
own way of talking, by typing Hindi words using the
English alphabet."
What Balachandran finds most interesting are the kinds
of conversations that take place on popular chat rooms
such as Indiatimes.com and
Datingdesis.com.
"The discussions are quite elite due to the kind of
medium it is," he said. "Indians have this thing for
fair skin. So often I come across someone who says, 'I
am 24, a software engineer. But I am a little on the
dark side. Is that OK?' It is as though the whole
concept of a fair girl in a heterosexual match has
been lifted and placed right into the homosexual
arena."
For those who can get access, the fact that they can
communicate with organizations across the globe has
played a vital role in helping them shape and manage
fledgling nonprofits here in India.
Vinay Chandran started Swabhava in 1999 to provide online, telephone and personal counseling to sexual
minorities. He is slowly mobilizing resources and
networking with similar organizations in India to
repeal Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code that
criminalizes sodomy.
"People like to believe that no one around here has
sex, they just make babies. So, gays are not even
given any sort of consideration," Chandran said.
"But the Net has helped us bring about some sort of
change. Like when I go to a debate about gay rights,
there is so much more information available now that
it gives us an idea of the bigger picture – about what
groups in the West are lobbying for, and on what they
are basing their arguments."
Chandran works within tight parameters. The Indian
police recently arrested two men in a "cruising area"
in the northern city of Lucknow, and Chandran is
concerned that cops in other cities might begin to
bear down upon gay organizations.
"They might just come in here and shut me down for
what they consider possession of pornographic material
– though it might just be some gay literature," he said. "And once people hear that our offices were raided, even if we do clear stuff up, they will always be hesitant in approaching us for any sort of counseling. Just to be
safe, I have boxed up all my copies of Bombay-Dost (India's first magazine for the gay community)."
For us in India, it is just the beginning. And it has
been such a tough journey," said Chandran.
