Are they really gay people in Bangladesh?

Granted working in sexuality rights in Bangladesh raises quite a few empathetic nods, but the eyebrows are raised when they learn of sexuality rights of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender (LGBT) community. Usually the first question I am asked is – are they really gay people in Bangladesh?

I wish I could flippantly answer no of course not because being gay is such a western construction. But I curb my tongue and remind myself that most people I encounter don’t have the faintest idea of the larger, somewhat thriving, yet cloaked LGBT community in our country. Most people would rather mock at seeing two men holding hands and walking on the streets (quite the norm in our country) rather than actually fathom that they are Bangladeshis living here engaged in same-sex relationships.

Their ignorance is, I will defend, justified. But their willful denial of the LGBT community possessing the same human rights and prerogatives as sanctioned by the UN Human Rights Convention is mindboggling misfortunate.

I have had people smirk at my work in advocating and promoting awareness and tolerance of the LGBT community. I have had people deplore their very existence. I have had people yell that homosexuality is the evil work of western exploitation. I have had people state that homosexuality is a mental disease.

Only after working with, meeting, and befriending many inspirational figures from the LGBT community, I have realized how supremely fortunate I am in being heterosexual. I recall a statement a friend made regarding same-sex relationship; that no matter what race, creed, faith, skin hue they are, being gay always incites violence, censure, and fear.

Can you imagine fearing for your life because you happen to prefer men/women of your own sex?

I ask many critics this question when they take it upon themselves to educate me of my misguided ways. They scoff at my idealistic notion of creating safe arenas where people of all sexual identities can emerge on the public forum without fear or censure.

At the midst of such disdain and open disapproval of empowering the LGBT community with rights and prerogatives that rightfully belong to them as human beings, I quietly tell myself that it took India ten years to decriminalize homosexuality. It may take Bangladesh far longer, or our country will never reach that goal, but it isn’t a lost cause at all.