LGBTI community has organized a cycle rally from Pune to Mumbai.(Express File Photo by Abhinav Saha)
The Sampathik Trust, which organised Pune’s LGBTI Pride March for the eighth consecutive year recently, has planned a bicycle rally from Pune to Mumbai in August to raise awareness about the problems faced by the community.
The bicycle rally will have rainbow flags with the message Acche Swastha ke liye 377 jana hi chahiye (For good health — 377 has to go) tied to them. “We hope members of the LGBTI community will support the rally,” said Bindumadhav Khire, Sampathik Trust coordinator.
‘Swasth Bharat Abhiyan’ is a great idea, and we interpret ‘swasth’ as not only physical health, but also mental health, say gay activists. Mental health problems like depression and low self-esteem are common in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, intersex, transgender (LGBTI) community, due to the stigma and social isolation fostered on it because Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code criminalises same-sex intercourse between consenting adults.
According to mental health professionals, IPC Section 377 has a detrimental impact on the mental health of LGBTI community. Khire added,“Section 377 severely impacts the physical and mental well-being of the community as it signals to adult same-sex couples that their expression of love is a crime.” This opens up the community to the possibility of blackmail, he added.
The Indian Psychiatrist Society, in its position statement on same-sex attraction and orientation, states that it “recognises the difficulties they (LGBT) face are a significant cause of their distress and calls for the provision of adequate mental health support”.
Health professionals and activists have also raised concerns that enforcement of Section 377 could adversely contribute to pushing sexual infections underground, making risky sexual practices go unnoticed and unaddressed, Khire said. While the Pride March has support from several NGOs and women’s organisations, the Indian Psychiatric Society said it also supports the need to decriminalise same-sex sexual behaviour and to recognise LGBT rights to include human, civil and political rights.