LGBT Rights are Human Rights : A Hindu perspective

GuyBow (Guyana Rainbow Foundation) hosted a discussion "LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) rights are Human Rights" on 9 December, 2017.
There were presentations from a panel. The presentations were followed by discussions.
The panelists were Melinda Janki - Justice Institute of Guyana;  Jairo Rodrigues - Guyana Responsible Parenthood Association and me. Guybow asked me to talk about Hinduism and LGBT rights so as to get other religious perspectives from the usual ones.

Melinda Janki spoke about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the challenge to minorities in societies which were British colonies. It was noted that even though the British had decriminalised homosexuality for over 50 years, many of the former colonies still held out. She felt that the courts had to be used to bring judgements against discrimination using the existing laws and conventions.There were questions and discussions about discrimination in landlord tenancy, and in employment and ways of bringing cases.

Jairo Rodrigues talked about Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights.He encouraged the audience to do the checks for preventable cancers such as cervical cancer and prostate cancer. There was discussion about access to abortion services.  He discussed the issues of discrimination against LGBT citizens in accessing health care, nothing that there is no law allowing discrimination in the health sector. He encouraged persons to access the services at GRPA , some of which are free, and some with cost.

In my presentation, I did the following to an audience which did not have Hindu people :-

• I acknowledged Swami Aksharananda who has intervened in different forum to say that Hindus should not be discriminating against LGBT citizens.
• I invoked the LGBT Hindus who are integral part of our Hindu community and who actively participate in the Hindu culture.
• I acknowledged that in the Ramcharitmanas , Uttarkand 87 , Lord Rama says that regardless of man, woman or those who have the qualities of neither, all who are devoted are dear to Him. Melinda reminded me that the Indian Supreme Court in NLSA vs UOI 2014 judgement on transgender rights, documented other histories, including the story that Rama had given special blessings to transgender (hijra) who had waited outside the forest for him. The judgement also referred to the Indian history of LGBT people.
• I explained briefly that Hindu and Indian texts and art have referred to same sex desires and gender fluidity for hundreds of years. The Hinduism Today article "Same-Sex Marriage and Hinduism" documents some of this history, and the way some Hindus have approached marriage. Words like svarini (lesbian), napumsukh, kothi , etc have different meanings on the 'spectrum'.
• I linked to Melinda's presentation noting that punishment for Homosexuality came with colonialism - first from the Mughal invaders, then the British.
• I quoted from Rajiv Malhotra in his book "Being Different An Indian Challenge to Western Universalism"  "Indian mimicry of British Victorian laws enacted under colonial rule has led to a contemporary controversy about gays. In traditional Indian society, there are no normative sexual categories of 'gay' and 'straight' , and therefore being gay is neither banned nor formally sanctioned. It is simply left ambiguous and indeterminate for individuals to figure out themselves in their own contexts. In the traditional Indian approach, the Western categories of gay/straight are not mutually exclusive, nor are they permanent essences of a person. From such a perspective, questions such as whether a gay person is 'allowed' to be a Hindu appear strange."
• I explained that Hindus have found difficulty in accepting is that Hinduism is NOT a prescriptive religion. There are no commandments, and do’s and don’t s. Some Hindus are strict vegetarians, others do animal sacrifice as part of their worship. Some Hindus are against alcohol, other Hindus use alcohol in their worship, or make money from the alcohol industry. Hindus over the last three years had different dates for the Diwali, Phagwah and other festivals.  Some Hindus discriminate violently against others based on caste, other Hindus do not bother with caste. And the list goes on. There is a mandate to inquire.
• I played a clip from the video of the June 2015 Queerying Hinduism The Alternative Hindu Discourse on "Alternative" Lifestyles" which was held in Trinidad and Tobago. Arvind Singh had prefaced his presentation with reference to two important shlokas which talk about not causing oppression.
  (The clip started from 7:31 in the video )
  
  The other presenters were Krystal Ghisyawan and Shalini Seereeram. The entire presentation is worth looking

• I played an important clip from a video interview with Swami Aksharananda from April 2013. He was being interviewed by Christopher Ram on Plain Talk. Demerara Waves reported on it. 
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• During the discussion, I noted that Human Rights are also accompanied by responsibility, and that many Hindu traditions would place great emphasis on dharma, the responsibility to other humans and living beings.

I noted that many Hindus will have no problem recognising LGBT rights as Human Rights.

Thanks to Guybow for organising this discussion.