Bombay — since 1996, officially Mumbai, is among other things India’s economic capital, as Calcutta is its intellectual centre and Delhi its political one.** Bombay is also the GAY CAPITAL of India, being a center for a majority of gay conferences, activism and cultural celebrations.**
Bombay — Portuguese, more or less, for “beautiful bay” — was part of Catherine of Braganza’s dowry when she married Charles II of England. Merrie Monarch though he was, it is unlikely he knew just what a prize he’d received.
Bombay — since 1996, officially “Mumbai,” is among other things India’s gay capital, as Calcutta is its intellectual centre and Delhi its political one.
With just under a billion people in India, the standard figure of 1 in 10 men being gay means 50 million gay men and somewhat lesser number of lesbians. And with 15 million people in Bombay, there are by that reckoning three quarters of a million gay men here.
Bombay has a very vibrant gay “scene” in India. But its not just our large gay population that makes our city the gay capital. Multicultural, cosmopolitan, the centre of industry and trade, the location of the huge film industry, wealthy, tolerant and vibrant, Bombay naturally provides a hospitable environment for gays of local origin to constitute a lively and self-assured gay community. But Bombay is also a magnet for gays from all over the country.
For gay residents and visitors alike, Bombay is the most hospitable, exciting and indispensable city on the subcontinent.
Do’s and Don’ts for visitors from elsewhere in India and abroad
Generally, anything goes, particularly with regard to matters of unique concern to gays.
If you are reasonably discreet and circumspect in your efforts to meet people, whether for purely social, romantic or purely sexual involvements, you should run into no difficulty at all.
But, Bombay’s astonishing multiculturalism apart, it is also fundamentally Indian. San Francisco it ain’t. This can be confusing for visitors.
Visitors from the West and from Islamic countries will inevitably be confused by the mixed signals they receive. Male displays of affection are common and nothing interesting should be read into them.
**Bear in mind that as everywhere else, sometimes cops get bored. And when there is nothing else for them to do, harassing gays, particularly at typical pick-up points, is a way of assuaging their boredom. Enough said. <----------- **
**In India, there’s nothing to be gay about
**By Siddharth Srivastava
NEW DELHI - While the emotional outbursts for and against same-sex marriage rages in the United States, in India, gays still live in a time warp. Same-gender sexual relations are still punishable by state laws. Legal sanction or acceptance of such relations or unions are beyond contemplation.
The government stand on homosexuality in India has driven a vast community of gays,** with estimates ranging from 5 million to 50 million, further into the fringes of society.** The Indian government has argued before the New Delhi High Court that such homosexual practices cannot be legalized in India since “Indian society is intolerant to the practice of homosexuals/lesbianism”.
The government’s reply late last year was to a petition filed by the New Delhi-based Naz Foundation, a nongovernmental organization (NGO), working for the welfare of HIV-positive and AIDS patients, that had sought to legalize homosexuality in India. :eek:
The NGO had challenged the constitutionality of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code that makes homosexuality illegal. According to the law, “whoever voluntarily has sex against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or for a term that may extend to 10 years”.
The NGO had argued that due to fear of police action, consenting adult males having sexual relations were not coming out of the closet and declaring themselves to be gay, thereby hampering medical prevention or intervention in cases of HIV/AIDS. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/FC18Df04.html
If u are a gay,u can say it openly.This is the scene in Mumbai unlike inmany other parts of the world.In some countries like Iran gays are put to death by the law.In Pakistani city of Lahore there are gays alot but I do not think people can claim that openly there.
Worls most number of gays are in Sydney Australia.
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