How Safe is our Society for the Queer Community

Disclaimer- The following piece is based on a mix of opinions and facts derived from various sources. We do not intend to offend the sentiments of any individual or community.

Photo by Tanushree Rao on Unsplash

The queer community has always been pushed to the margins of society through ostracization. Even as we step well into the 21st century, there are a limited amount of truly safe spaces for people to express their own truth. 

As we approached people about their views on how safe and recognized people from the LGBTQ+ community are in society, we mostly received discouraging responses. Most people believe that even as we are progressing in some regard, we still have a large distance to cover to create a truly representative society. 

This is not to disregard all the advances that we have already made. In fact, the word ‘queer’ that has now become an umbrella term for anyone whose sexual or gender identity does not conform to the cishet standards of society, was seen as a negative term originally. 

The term literally means strange, something unusual. And it was used to indicate an individual who did not live up to the heteronormative bar. It was indeed a slur that was used to put down people and shame them for their preferences. It can be traced back to the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. But starting in 1980s, the term was reclaimed by lgbtq+ rights activists. Right around the time that acceptance of these identities started to be publically discussed. 

But carving a space for recognition remains just one the challenges for the people of the community. The biggest argument used against the queer community is that their very existence is ‘unnatural’. That evolution would never create urges in individuals that would hamper the biological processes of reproduction and propagation of species. 

However, this remains far from the truth. Science too, recognizes that the existence of deviations from the cishet standards is just another natural step in the path of evolution. Many other species, apart from human beings, are also known and proven to have instances of homosexuality and the defiance of gender roles. Medical organizations too recognize the biological validity of these deviations from the “normal”. 

In fact, the existence of individuals of a vast range of gender and sexual identities is also validated by historical evidence and even mythological occurrences. Of course that is a topic that we will further explore in the upcoming weeks as well. 

The point remains that we still have a lot of strides to make to achieve even the most basic standards of respect and acceptance to the queer community. As an individual who does not recognize as heteronormative myself, I believe that there is a lot more to be done to open up the bounds of the mainstream public sphere to the voices that have too often been repressed. 

It is high time that people open up their minds to these concepts and extend human decency to others, even if true understanding of these identities elude them. No one should have to fear for their safety when they have done nothing to harm anyone else. The least we can do is create a respectful space for all human beings where they can truly be themselves. 

By- Nishita Sinha