No Filter: Gay Indian prince fights against colonial hangover

About a month ago, when I heard that Manvendra Singh Gohil from the erstwhile princely state of Rajpipla, the first openly gay prince in the world, was coming to Chennai I had to meet him. I still remember the day he came out to the media in 2006. 

I was glued to the TV listening to him instead of studying for my board exams because until then the Indian media never really spoke about homosexuality and I wanted to know more. 

For the first time, this was an acceptable dinner table conversation because it was in the news, and this man made that happen. His life story was a favourite primetime and he made multiple appearances on the Oprah show and even on Keeping Up with the Kar dashians (KUWTK). 

Manvendra is now an ambassador for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation and through his Lakshya Trust, he does an amazing work. Recently, he opened his palace doors to members of the LGBTQ community who might be ostracised by their families upon coming out. 

A path breaker, game changer or how my generation would like to call — he is a downright gangsta.  He spoke to me about being confused with regard to sexuality because there was no sex education and it is largely non-existent in our country even today. ‘Our parents don’t talk to us about sexuality and we never knew that homosexuality even existed. I grew up confused and forever questioning why I was different from the other boys in my school. Every individual, while growing up, should realise their identity. 

I didn’t realise there were other options apart from straight male or female’. Section 377 was bound to come up in my conversation with the prince and he explained its implications in great detail. 

‘It is not just about homosexual acts as we are just 10 percent of the population, but it also criminalises any sexual activity that doesn’t result in procreation and can be punishable with up to 10 years of prison time. 

I’m a student of law and this criminalises masturbation, so we are a country of criminals? It makes it illegal for anyone be it straight or gay to engage in consensual sex. The only exemption is for lesbians because Queen Victoria didn’t actually think they existed. The common misconception is that it applies only to the LGBTQ community’. 

Isn’t this enough for us to start a movement to finally repeal Section 377? Shouldn’t there be lakhs of people lining up on the Marina Beach peacefully protesting this Human Rights violation? He is also working with a University to develop a module wherein which LGBTQ and section 377 are debated and spoken about. 

This is the way forward and hopefully, other educational institutions in the country will follow suit. He tells me ‘A study done by the World Bank two years ago said that the economic development of a country like India depends on its ability to recognise the rights of its citizens. 

As India is competing with developed nations, this is the right time to decide if we want to move ahead to the next generation or return to the dark past. To me, it’s a simple case of humanity vs hypocrisy’. 

I have never heard somebody phrase it so succinctly because our country’s attitude towards sexuality is the result of a colonial hangover and if we check our Indian heritage, our temple walls bear testament to the fact that we were a sexually free country. 

They say never meet your icons because you may be disappointed, but Prince Manvendra didn’t disappoint. In fact, his warmth and humility with which he spoke about what he has achieved for the LGBTQ community at personal cost only inspired me more.

I just got back from a beautiful beach wedding in Goa that was absolutely magical. There were several things that were quite new to me, starting with the number of attendees at the wedding. Coming from a Tamil background, my extended family can fill up a football stadium! And it took me by surprise that the wedding guests, including close friends and family, were less than just 50 people.  

Now, this is what they mean by small and intimate wedding and not a code for a hush-hush registrar wedding. The next thing, that I was pleasantly surprised by, was the fact that the bride and groom organised the entire wedding themselves, with inputs from the family. It was so nice to see their parents, relaxed from the wedding duties, being able to enjoy their children’s wedding. I was my boyfriend’s plus one and for someone who is used to weddings that last a few hours, the short wedding came as a sweet surprise.