SEXUALITY & The LGBTQ+ Community
What is sexuality?
Sexual orientation is something that is separate from gender identity, and it refers to which genders a person feels a sexual attraction to. When a person feels sexual attraction to the opposite gender, they may identify as heterosexual, and when a person feels sexual attraction to the same gender, they may identify as being homosexual. A person who feels sexual attraction to both male and female people may identify as bisexual, and someone who does not choose sexual relations based on gender may identify as pansexual. If someone does not feel sexual attraction (they may still feel romantic attraction), they may identify as asexual.
There are also more specific terms to describe sexuality like gay (when men feel sexually attracted to other men) or lesbian (when women feel sexually attracted to other women). As you can see, there are a lot of different sexual orientations, and they don’t have anything to do with a person’s own gender identity, but rather with what genders/sexes/gender identities a person feels sexually attracted to.
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The LGBTQ+ Community
Similarly to gender identity, sexual orientation is something that a person may explore and develop over time, and it can also change. And also like gender identity, sexual orientation is something that should be respected and accepted for all people. Since a heterosexual orientation is the most common in Indian society, people who identify with minorty sexual orientations face lots of discrimination in society, just like people who have diverse gender identities. They are denied many of the rights that other Indian citizens can enjoy, like marriage or adopting a child, and until recently it was illegal to engage in same-sex sexual acts.
As a way to find support, people with diverse sexual orientations or gender identities have come together across the world in the LGBTQ+ community, where the L stands for lesbian, G stands for gay, B stands for bisexual, T stands for transgender, Q stands for queer, and + signifies that the communities includes all other diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. Thanks to LGBTQ+ activists and supporters, there has been more openness and acceptance towards the community in society, especially in more urban areas, and there have been some important legal steps that have been taken towards LGBTQ+ acceptance and safety.
However, there is still lots to be done: many rural communities still have harmful opinions towards the LGBTQ+ community, and the government’s stance towards the community is not currently very promising.
Whether you identify as a part of the community or not, how can you help make our society more inclusive, so that all people can be safe and enjoy the same rights and opportunities? After becoming educated about different sexual orientations and gender identities, it is important to continue to seek out their perspectives and stories. Finding social media accounts, books, shows, and more, that are written by or tell the stories of the LGBTQ+ community, the history behind it, and the hardships that the community faces are good ways of developing a helpful and respectful perspective. Just like with gender identity, be respectful and understanding if someone comes out (reveals their sexual orientation) to you.