Karan Johar's veiled coming out has resulted in him being roasted on the social media...
Forget being a reason to celebrate, his veiled coming out is resulting in Karan Johar being roasted on social media and among the LGBTQ community. In an excerpt from his newly released memoir, An Unsuitable Boy’, he mentioned that while he is the poster child for homosexuality in India, his reason for not openly coming out is because he might be jailed. Meanwhile, LGBTQ activists have highlighted that Karan’s remarks were misinformed and will only reinforce the existing fear of coming out of those who are in the closet.
Pallav Patankar, LGBTQ activist told a tabloid, “If an uneducated person in a remote Indian village comes and tells me that they are scared of coming out, I’d take it, but this coming from somebody with a stature as big as Karan’s, I feel let down. He should be coming out as an empowered and powerful individual, and actually make a difference for those helpless people living in villages. People who were earlier considering coming out will now sit and think twice, worried that an FIR might be involved — but this is baseless. You won’t be arrested for coming out.”
Speaking of the possibility of being jailed, Karan is referring to the Section 377 (unnatural offences) of the Indian Penal Code, which criminalizes homosexual intercourse. However, it does not criminalise sexual orientation. Patankar further added that even if Karan faces consequences for coming out, the LGBTQ community will stand strong with him. “We have taken enough pangas for the community. Even if he ends up landing in jail, we will come out in support, go to jail along with him and stand by him, even if he doesn’t want to come out and support the community,” said Pallav.
The Humsafar Trust, the oldest LGBTQ organization in India, too is disappointed at the misinformed statement of the filmmaker. The trust issued a statement that said: “To come out is Karan’s personal choice, but he should not misinform. His present statement encourages homophobia and gay bashing to bully the LGBTQ community in private and public spaces.”
On the other hand, a member from Humsafar Trust also presented another facet to the argument, saying, “When Section 377 was introduced, the extortion and ragging cases suddenly increased, as people thought that our community was scared now and could be taken advantage of. It seems like a small thing, but for someone as influential and famous as Karan, things could go terribly wrong.
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 "Bollywood, Karan Johar, backlash, troll, Sexuality, LGBTQ")
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