Anshul and Priyan, working with a reputed advertising agency in South Delhi, seemed to have everything going for them rewarding careers and a colourful social life.
Anshul and Priyan, working with a reputed advertising agency in South Delhi, seemed to have everything going for them rewarding careers and a colourful social life. Yet, every morning, they would scoot from their two-bedroom rented apartment at Lajpat Nagar, hiding from jeering neighbours and nosy street vendors. Even their landlord threatened to throw them out if they didn't 'behave like normal boys.' And 'normal' they couldn't be.
Out-of-closet gays, the two in their early twenties, had made a cosy home for themselves. But outside, the conservative colony ridiculed their 'queerness.' Yesterday, however, the pair walked with their heads high.
"There is a long way to go for society to accept us wholeheartedly, but at least this is a good beginning," said Anshul.
But have things really changed? Subhash Chopra, their 50-year-old retired librarian landlord, doesn't think so.
"How can the law encourage our girls and boys to change their genders at their will? This will lead to social anarchy." But next-door neighbour Prabha Devi, a former government schoolteacher, welcomes the change. "A decade ago, my parents didn't accept my relationship with a Muslim boy. But, inter-faith marriages are accepted today. This, too, will become a norm," she predicts, thankful that the two will now be safe. "Goondas would tease them everyday, and when they'd protest, threats of a police complaint would be thrown. At least now, that will stop." The vegetable vendor, who loved his daily evening interlude with Priyan, agreed. "Woh jeena chahte hain, shaadi karna chahte hain (They want to get live, get married)," he said with a smile. Who said we need education to be progressive!
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