Mumbai as a city must look to a progressive future
Mumbai is a massive city of over 11 million people, it is the capital of the world’s largest democracy, and is home to a cosmopolitan mix of people from all over the country and the world. Yet some in Mumbai remain, in many ways, social backward in many of their views toward traditional taboo issues such as homosexuality, bisexuality, transgender and cross-dressing.
This social backward aspect to an otherwise progressively forward-thinking city has been highlighted by the treatment recently of a prominent transgender activist at an establishment in the city.
Laxmi Tripathi, a prominent transgender in India and a successful entrepreneur and activist, was recently asked to speak at the TEDx Mumbai conference, and was also invited to a pre-event dinner the night before the conference, along with 50 other people scheduled to speak at the symposium.
The dinner was hosted by Ajay Hattangadi at the Bombay Gymkhana, a popular nightclub in Mumbai run by a retired colonel. The dinner was a great success until about two hours into the meal when Gymkhana staff came to the table and asked Laxmi to leave.
Hattangadi was further threatened with the revoking of his membership to the club if he did not support them.
Fortunately, progressive sense prevailed and Hattangadi, as well as all 50 guests at the dinner, stood up and walked out in support of Lumxi, who says she feels that her constitutional rights have been violated.
“My constitutional right to equality, to live with dignity, has been denied,” she told the Hindustan Times, an Indian news provider.
She has now decided to go to the Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission (MSHRC), and prominent figures in Mumbai and the country have rallied to her defense. Actress Celina Jaitley has called on all of Mumbai to boycott the club, and plans are in place to hold a protest march outside the club.
Such backward thinking is to be expected in a society whose government decriminalized homosexuality as late as 2009. But while the government appears to be taking steps toward the future, establishments such as Bombay Gymkhana will hold the country back.
It is interesting to note that the law criminalizing homosexuality, Article 377 of Indian Penal Code, was actually a relic of British colonial rule, a law forced on the country during colonization. Ironically, the Bombay Gymkhana was also a club that used to display a sign saying "Indians and dogs not allowed” during British rule (according to a tweet posted by Celina Jaitley).
Progress is being made though, the city is moving towards a fair and unbiased future. The High Court recently announced that it was going take up the issue of discrimination against transgendered individuals in the city’s prison facilities, and Bombay Dost, India’s first gay magazine, has been re-launched, while a transgender beauty pageant was also held in Mumbai in February.
Almost every civilized and developed nation in the world, unless prohibited by religious affiliations such as non-secular countries in the Middle East, recognizes the right to freedom of expression and sexuality, and the right not to be discriminated against based on the grounds of one’s sexuality. Mumbai should not allow the dead-weight of discrimination to hold the country back.
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Mumbai as a city must look to a progressive future
Homosexuality was only decriminalised last year in India, so it is natural that some old ways of thinking will linger, but the recent discrimination against a transgender individual in the city is an ugly reminder of the work yet to be done.
Mumbai is a massive city of over 11 million people, it is the capital of the world’s largest democracy, and is home to a cosmopolitan mix of people from all over the country and the world. Yet some in Mumbai remain, in many ways, social backward in many of their views toward traditional taboo issues such as homosexuality, bisexuality, transgender and cross-dressing. Read more
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