“I was scared… Why on earth was I finding DiCaprio hotter than Kate Winslet?”
That’s how an Indian man posting anonymously online describes the moment he realized he wasn’t only attracted to women - but to men. “A 15 year old can only tolerate so much,” he writes. “High school bullying nearly killed my self confidence but college made me the confident man I am today. In college, I made friends who are not only just okay with me being gay, they never treated me differently.”
But not every LGBT college student in India is as lucky. Many don’t have anyone in their life who knows the truth about their sexuality. Some have been outed by so-called friends who found out they weren’t straight.
An engineering student in an Indian college named Arjun* (not his real name) posts online that he knew he was gay since 12th grade. “Many guys in India have sex with boys, but loving them is a different story here,” Arjun writes. He must constantly hide his sexuality and pretend to be straight, and can’t confide in his family or friends. Arjun has dreams of moving away from India to a country where the phrase “Tu gay hai kya?” is not used as a slur.
Over the years, urban India has become slightly more tolerant. For the first time, colorful pride parades marched in major cities. But many people marching wear colorful masks to make sure they are not recognized.
However, the same can’t be said for the rest of the country. The dark underbelly of India lurks in certain rural villages, where honor killings and corrective rapes are secretly planned and even sanctioned by the victim’s own family. In this deadly environment, life for LGBT students is increasingly stifling and painfully lonely. College can be a bit easier in major cities like Bangalore or New Delhi, but even those colleges are often very unwelcoming.
Change was in the air at Delhi University when they changed their admissions policy in 2014 to allow transgender people in. But shortly afterward, a gay undergraduate student at Delhi University got beaten up by two other students. The victim was afraid that he would be targeted again if people knew he was gay, and Delhi University had no system in place to protect his identity during an investigation. These two students still have not faced any punishment for their crime.
Rahul Yadav, an English major, attended a march at Delhi University protesting the college’s lack of support for LGBT students. “Incidents of mockery, abuse and bullying are so common across the university yet nobody cares enough to act and formulate even one body that can enforce action or enquiry,” he told a reporter from Scroll.in. Years later, Delhi University still has no LGBT support group.
Unfortunately, finding a college that protects LGBT students is like trying to find a rainbow colored needle in a haystack. Out of over 36,000 universities in India, only a handful have LGBT support groups. That means most gay or lesbian students have nowhere to go for help.
But more and more colleges are stepping up to the plate.
Mumbai’s IIT Bombay is one of the universities in India championing LGBT rights. Their support group named “Saathi” holds frequent events and discussions about LGBT topics on campus.
Another university that has made an effort to support LGBT students is Jawaharlal Nehru University. Looking at their campus, you can’t miss the rainbow colored steps on one of the stairways on campus or the tree decorated with a bright rainbow pattern. JNU is known for their LGBT support group called “Dhanak,” which regularly hosts events and debates about LGBT issues.
This next college is decades younger than the previous ones mentioned. But it has already set an example for equal rights in Indian colleges. New Shores International College (NCIS) was founded in 2009 by a young entrepreneur, Shashidhar Chiron. Like many founders, he sees his college as a place where students can learn skills they need to succeed. But his progressive, welcoming stance sets him head and shoulders apart.
Asked about the role of a university in society, he responded, “As a college, we prepare our students to adapt and succeed in society. I believe that we have an intrinsic responsibility to shape that very society though our students by subverting the way people think about LGBT people in our country.”
Mr. Chiron’s actions reinforce his welcoming attitude. NSIC is home to a LGBT Resource Center that educates students and faculty so that NSIC can provide a safe environment for everyone. “College campuses should be permissive, supportive, and respectful ecosystems for each student regardless of their gender or sexual orientation,” Shashidhar asserts.
One of NSIC’s students recently published a whitepaper called “LGBT Rights and Discrimination in Indian Campuses.” It describes the cultural roots of homophobia on Indian campuses and suggests how colleges can help fix this problem. Mr. Chiron explains that he supported this paper because, “Equal rights for everyone has been long overdue in India and around the world, and I think college campuses are perhaps the best place to drive this idea home."
Recent years have witnessed small pockets of safety for LGBT students appearing in a small cluster of Indian universities. But there is still a long way to go. It’s time for the rest of India’s universities to set their prejudice and fear aside until we reach the day when preferring a smoldering Leonardo DiCaprio over sultry Kate Winslet is no longer a crime.