Chennai, July 06: The Delhi high court may have given great relief to gays by making sex between them legal, but the first “lesbian helpline” (044-65515742) in India by the Indian Community Welfare Organisation has been of “great help” in bringing the community together.
“This helpline is our lifeline and we want to foster this opportunity into a movement for gay rights leading to a law legalising our way of life,” said Jenny, a lesbian in her mid-20s who works as a make-up artist. “Lesbians or gays are looked down upon much in the way of transgenders or eunuchs. This is why we have to hide our relationships. Through this helpline, we would like to send out a clear message of hope to such people.”
Jenny was a closet lesbian till she used the helpline and opened up to her mother. “She cried initially, but has now accepted me for what I am. This acceptance by my family has come as a big relief and if all families begin to accept the gender orientation of their members, society will change,” she said.
In Chennai, the lesbian community is forming a core group with women who have used the helpline and come out,” said Jenny.She added, “Our first task is to counsel women who feel frustrated and want to commit suicide since they are not allowed to lead a happy life. I realised my orientation when I was 13. I approached the helpline with some trepidation, but gained confidence the moment I realised that this was a true platform to express my desire openly. We will now fight for legalising such relationships.”
The helpline has received a flurry of calls — sometimes up to 100 a day between 10am and 6pm — from India as well as the USA, New Zealand, Malaysia and Singapore. “We work with MSM (men having sex with men) and received a lot of queries about lesbian relationships, so we decided to start this helpline for women,” said ICWO founder secretary AJ Hariharan. “Any initiative in the LGBT segment has to be community driven. We want the community to take up their cause through the helpline, while we provide support.”
“We get calls from people who are hesitant to talk or tense so our aim is to calm them down,” said Arthi Tarun, ICWO counsellor. “We tell them not to take hasty decisions and to convince their family to understand.” “Some callers are aggressive, some are desperate,” she added. “Sometimes husbands or boyfriends call as they suspect their partners to be lesbian. It is very important for families to understand and accept the gender orientation of a person.”
–Agencies