The central premise of the campaign to decriminalize homosexuality in India was that it was not the Government’s business what two consenting adults did in their own bedroom. And there was a certain level of merit to that argument. Consequently, the Supreme Court of India proceeded to decriminalize the same. But since then, events have unfolded in such a manner that homosexual relationships, and ideologies far more toxic than that, have now found their way to children’s classrooms.
On Tuesday, it was reported that 8 short films on homosexual relationships will be screened in schools in Kolkata. At least one of them is based on a male escort. However, it is not yet clear if the movies will be screened for students under 15 years of age or above. Nonetheless, it is a matter of debate whether school going children should be exposed to such material at all.
Needless to say, the urge to include such material in the school curriculum is motivated by an indomitable desire among the liberal class of Indian society to mindless copy western cultural mores. Indian sexual mores are radically different from those in the United States of America. India is a far more conservative society than the west and sexual norms are still very conservative here. But there is an increasing urge among those who idealize the West to import all their norms here, without due consideration towards local cultural conditions.
LGBT Propaganda and gender politics: The craze among Indian liberals to adopt western cultural mores
India does not have to mindless copy western cultural norms in order to achieve the levels of prosperity that is observed there. India can achieve modernity on its own terms, while retaining the values that are important to itself. While it is fair to argue that gay men and lesbian women deserve to be treated fairly and courteously, it is bizarre to argue that it can be achieved only by exposing children to LGBT propaganda. While LGBT activists might take issue with the use of the word ‘propaganda’ to describe their activism, it is precisely what it is.
The movies on homosexual relationships being screened is not the worst of LGBT propaganda that have been broadcast to children in Indian schools. At the Tagore International School, a photograph was shown to children by an LGBT Rights group that showed a man breastfeeding a child after developing enlarged breasts. The man in the photograph was born a woman and had undergone hormonal therapy to make the transition to a man. It is perplexing that children should be exposed to such material to promote ‘inclusiveness’.
Individuals ought to be exposed to sexual material only after they have achieved a certain degree of maturity. It is not too much to expect schools to focus on Mathematics, Sciences and Literature and not sex. However, we have a trend now where even Drag Queen Story Hours have made their way to India. Drag Queens are usually homosexual men, transgenders or cross-dressers who often dress-up in heavily sexual female clothing, although not always.
It is not clear how any of this is relevant to education, or promoting inclusiveness for that matter. While LGBT activists might be quick to level allegations of ‘homophobia’ or ‘transphobia’ at concerned citizens who are not onboard with the agenda, the fact that people would not want children to be exposed to sexual politics at a young age is a critical concern that cannot be ignored entirely.
The danger of Gender Identity Politics
Furthermore, LGBT propaganda is not limited to homosexual relationships alone. In fact, LGBT politics runs hand in hand with the toxic ideology of gender identity politics. Gender Identity overlords believe that biological sex is a myth, that there are an infinite number of genders and that gender is a social construct. These are not just scientifically incorrect but dangerous ideas. It is utterly ridiculous to claim that gender does not have a firm basis in biology.
Nonetheless, LGBT activists want children to learn that ‘gender is fluid’ and if a boy claims to be a girl, then he deserves to be treated as a girl by everyone else around them and anything short of that is bigotry. The natural consequence of this is the fact that there have been quite a few horror stories where biological men were placed in female prisons and then went on to rape the female inmates. There was also the case of Jessica Yaniv who threatened to sue women because the women were not comfortable with waxing Yaniv’s male genitalia.
Children, especially girls, have been affected harshly by gender identity politics. Abigail Shrier, in her book ‘Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters’, documented how girls who were not necessarily suffering from gender dysphoria came to believe that they were ‘trapped in the wrong body’. Consequently, the girls went medical procedures to change their gender, many of whom came to regret their decision later.
Simultaneously, there is also a campaign underway to abandon the use of the word ‘women’ to describe women. The alternatives for it is ‘vulva-owners’, ‘menstruators’ and ‘vagina-owners’ among others, all of which are extremely derogatory terms. There is good reason to fear that the entire spectrum of gender identity politics is being imported to India from the West, lock, stock and barrel, without giving due though to the danger it poses.
The Russian view on LGBT propaganda
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been at the forefront of opposing such schemes. He has called gender identity politics a ‘borderline crime against humanity’.
Vladimir Putin noted in a speech recently, “In the 1920s, Soviet culture-warriors invented a so-called ‘newspeak,’ believing that in this way they would create a new sense of consciousness and redefine people’s values.” and further added, “like when children are taught from an early age that a boy can easily become a girl and vice versa. In fact, they are indoctrinating them into the alleged choices that are supposedly available to everyone – removing parents from the equation and forcing the child to make decisions that can ruin their lives.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said, “All world religions, the genetic code of the planet’s key civilisations, are under attack. The United States is at the forefront of state interference in church affairs, openly seeking to drive a wedge into the Orthodox world, whose values are viewed as a powerful spiritual obstacle for the liberal concept of boundless permissiveness.”
Promoting LGBT propaganda is banned in Russia and Putin maintains that while Russia has no problems with homosexuality, children should be left alone until they attain enough maturity to realise who they want to be. And this is an extremely sensible position to take, and one that India should adopt.
NCERT training manual for teachers: LGBT Propaganda that needs to be abandoned
Unfortunately, India is going the American way. The Department of Gender Studies at NCERT, recently, published a training manual for teachers that encapsulated the worst elements of Gender Identity Politics. The document blamed ‘caste patriarchy’ for the stigma against transgenders and railed against ‘binary’ in schools, such as different seating arrangements for boys and girls and different lines for them during assemblies.
It even claimed that the binary basis of toilets for boys and girls was a problem, although it later suggested a third unisex toilet be added. However, it does not take into consideration the infrastructure constraints of schools or whether such sweeping changes are even warranted. By its own admission, only 25 transgender students registered themselves for the Class 10 and 12 board exams in 2020.
Most notable, the document also suggested raising awareness about puberty blockers. Puberty blockers are medicines that block the natural development of puberty among children. Certain western countries have permitted children to receive puberty blockers without their parents’ consent.
The consequence can often be disastrous and possible side-effects include lower bone density and less development of genital tissue. In addition, it can also prevent children from having children of their own in the future. Needless to say, these medicines have serious impact and many of their long-term effects are not yet known.
Concerns in USA about gender identity politics
Megyn Kelly, an extremely popular media personality in the USA, revealed that her son’s school taught such ideas to third graders. She recalled, “One of our fellow parents, a man, raised his hand and said, ‘Why did my son come home’ — these are third graders, 8- and 9-year-olds — ‘Why did my son come home and asks if it’s true that he can take a pill to prevent puberty, and then, when he turns 18, he can have his penis chopped off if he wants to become a woman?’”
“There are things that are inappropriate to discuss with children, certainly third graders, as it was in our case, and teenagers down the line for all sorts of reasons,” she added. Rhode Island middle school teacher Ramona Bessinger said, “It is wrong. It is very wrong because kids glom onto various identities, especially at that middle school level. So, they are going to try different hats on at that age. They may try purple hair and different funny things.”
In another tragic case in Canada, a father was jailed for calling his biologically female child his ‘daughter’. Robert Hoogland, the father of the teenage girl, was jailed by a Canadian court for calling his biological female child his “daughter,” and referring to her with the pronouns “she” and “her.” Hoogland was found to be in contempt of court.
While certain people may accuse us of ‘alarmism’, it is not far-fetched to claim that all such toxic ideas could be imported to India within a very short span of time. As such, such ideas have to be resisted in order to protect the future of our children.
Some might argue that it is a simple case of screening movies on homosexual relationships in schools to promote ‘inclusiveness’. However, everything else indicates that this is only a part of a larger agenda to brainwash children into the toxic ideology of gender identity politics. If that comes to pass, the consequences will be disastrous.
