Faith (Photo by Suchandra Das)
You know what, we should make a religion out of it. That’s the language they understand. They give respect to the unreasonable whims of religious leaders, but not to the obvious human rights of minorities. So lets make a religion out of being queer.
Imagine this—if you are queer (or uncertain), just go ahead and declare that you belong to “Queer Religion”. Now you are free to be who you are. No complicated rules and rituals! We can write up our own holy book, which will list down instructions like – 1) Do not harm others 2) Treat all equally and 3) Have an awesome life. Our holy place would be wherever we find ample natural beauty—gardens, beaches, waterfalls etc. Our holy symbol will be the rainbow flag—giving a message of diversity, inclusivity and harmony.
We will have pride marches with the pomp and honour of religious parades. Our festivals will be the birth anniversaries of famous LGBT people from history and mythology—Alan Turing, Oscar Wilde, Shikhandi and so on. We can sing pride songs and poems by Lady Gaga and Vikram Seth like they were our religious hymns and bhajans.
Now the best part—if someone calls you bad names for being a pansy boy or a butch girl, you will be able to lodge a complain with the police, saying that the person has offended your “religious sentiments”. Oh yeah!
You may have heard about Hindu Marriage Act, Muslim Personal Law and similar religion-specific rules recognised by the government. Similarly, we can ask for Queer Marriage Laws (in the name of our religion!) which will allow marriages between two consenting adults irrespective of gender and orientation. No dowry, just love! Although we will have to figure out about marriages between the Queer religion and other religions. Of course, we will never get involved in communal riots for any reason. Our religion will celebrate a culture of tolerance, peace and love. And yet, have a firm legal and political standing.
I suppose I should stop myself before I demand minority reservations for the Queer religion. I’m not sure if I make sense from a legal and social perspective. What I do know, is that I am pissed off with the leaders of various religious groups for assuming authority over the lives of people belonging to their community. Look dear holy people, we are consenting harmless adults and we know in our hearts what our Creator wants from us. So stop being an over-concerned nanny and go mind your own holy business!
