\u2018Pakistan is a homophobic place,\u2019 Karim continues. \u2018As in any other conservative society, queers can have all the sex and love that they want \u2013 as long as they\u2019re quiet about it. One of the problems with this is that people can get away with a lot of things, murder included.\u2019 He pauses. \u2018There are no codes, no rules. So if someone f***s you over, \u00a0\u00a0you\u2019re \u00a0\u00a0totally alone.\u2019 His \u00a0\u00a0earlier nonchalance \u00a0\u00a0gives \u00a0\u00a0way \u00a0\u00a0to \u00a0\u00a0a \u00a0\u00a0more contemplative tone. \u2018You\u2019re already a criminal. And that\u2019s tricky business.\u2019 Murders often go unreported and uninvestigated. [The prohibition against homosexuality in Pakistan is on both legal and religious grounds.]<\/p>\n
Aliya (not her real name), a 24-year-old urban planner, says she has not met a lot of queer women or transgender men (those born women) in Pakistan. \u2018We have no local lesbian culture that female bodies can be inspired by or want to emulate \u2013 in fashion, style or living habits,\u2019 she says.<\/p>\n
Aliya has short hair and is dressed in a khaki-coloured kurta. She says she likes to switch it up, and admits that the surroundings affect her deeply. \u2018It\u2019s almost as if, the minute I re-enter Pakistan, I can only remember how to flirt with male bodies. Somehow, I can\u2019t make that intimate connection or even casually flirt with non- masculine bodies anymore \u2013 the prevailing homophobia impairs me.\u2019<\/p>\n
Aliya says her horizons are limited by class, ethnicity and gender. \u2018I have only been able to interact with queer folks in my [social] class \u2013 and our worlds are tiny, and filled with fear,\u2019 she notes. A few years ago, she hung out in some underground queer circles, and recalls liking the idea of a safe space that was supportive and could be used for organisation and activism. But the reality was never quite like that. The lesbians and queer women she met there, Aliya says, were a lot older than her and seemed to be at a different stage in their lives. \u2018They were surprised by my being so much younger than them,\u2019 she recalls. \u2018It seemed as though one had to go through a terrible marriage or horrific engagement to discover [one\u2019s] sexual identity!\u2019<\/p>\n
Certain ingrained cultural traits have actually aided closeted lifestyles, Aliya says. \u2018If I were to sleep over at a girlfriend\u2019s place, my parents would not be offended or even think twice about it,\u2019 she smiles wryly. \u2018But if I want to sleep over at a boyfriend\u2019s house, they wouldn\u2019t even consider the possibility! Perhaps the thought hasn\u2019t even entered their minds that I may actually be sleeping with the girlfriend, and only be sleeping over at the boy\u2019s place.\u2019 She continues: \u2018At times it works out perfectly, but only for a little while. The secrecy is fine when you\u2019re 17, but it soon becomes exasperating.\u2019<\/p>\n
South Asian history is steeped in evidence of fluid sexual practice, but in modern-day Pakistan there has been significant re-writing of history. Classical poetry carries references to homoeroticism; monuments and legends bear witness to queer love affairs and homosexual devotion; love is celebrated regardless of orientation. This past, however, is not easily reclaimed. Polyamorous love \u2013 having multiple sexual partners at any given time \u2013 has also been written out of the region\u2019s many histories, and has largely disappeared from the public imagination.<\/p>\n
Each spring, the people of Lahore celebrate Mela Chiraghan, the Festival of Lights. The festival commemorates the work and love of the Punjabi Sufi poet Shah Hussain, who took on the name of Madho Lal, a Brahmin boy with whom he had fallen in love. Thousands attend this festival and participate in the rites of commemoration and celebration. Yet there is no public acknowledgement of the love shared between Shah Hussain and Madho Lal, and of how Shah Hussain eventually became Madho Lal Hussain.<\/p>\n
Queer culture is finding expression, albeit at times in very particular ways. Bagh-e-Jinnah, a park, is a well-known gathering spot for Lahore\u2019s queer community. The \u00a0gardens \u00a0in \u00a0Lahore\u2019s \u00a0older \u00a0neighbourhoods \u00a0are \u00a0usually \u00a0frequented by \u00a0men, seeking refuge from both the sun and society. Here, men sitting with other men, walking \u00a0close \u00a0to \u00a0other \u00a0men, their \u00a0bodies \u00a0nudging \u00a0each \u00a0other, \u00a0often \u00a0attract \u00a0less attention than a man and a woman together. But Karim is wary. \u2018I don\u2019t go there; it\u2019s sketchy. I meet people online, usually. It\u2019s discreet,\u2019 he says. \u2018It\u2019s the standard clich\u00e9 of gay life in a closed society, where people don\u2019t want to get caught.\u2019<\/p>\n
In \u00a0a \u00a0country \u00a0with \u00a0a \u00a0population \u00a0upwards \u00a0of \u00a0170 \u00a0million, \u00a0the \u00a0people \u00a0of \u00a0Pakistan continue to live in small worlds oppressed by social practice and propriety. Freedoms are limited, as are opportunities for people to come together and engage with each other regardless of class, gender, religion, ethnicity or sexuality.<\/p>\n
\u2018There\u2019s no grand concept of coming out in Pakistan,\u2019 says \u2018Fayaz\u2019, a 26-year-old gay man living in Lahore, echoing a sentiment shared by many. \u2018If you live in Pakistan,<\/p>\n
the coming-out process is never over. You\u2019re always coming out. There\u2019s always the hope that you might change your mind and decide you want to get married the traditional way \u2013 the only way \u2013 and give up your gay lifestyle.\u2019<\/p>\n
Across the border, as India rescinded its repeal of Section 377, and at home, a television show host \u2018outted\u2019 a gay couple on public television<\/a> handing them over to the police – it doesn\u2019t look promising. But the resistance against systems of heterosexist oppression continues, and questions of oppression and exclusion within queer circles come up, and are addressed, and in that struggle there is hope.<\/p>\n Photo Credit<\/a>: By\u00a0Fry1989<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u2018Pakistan is a homophobic place,\u2019 Karim continues. \u2018As in any other conservative society, queers can have all the sex and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":11273,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,87,8],"tags":[570,1532,80,76],"class_list":{"0":"post-1238","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-categories","8":"category-queer-rights","9":"category-voices","10":"tag-homophobia","11":"tag-lgbtq-rights","12":"tag-pakistan","13":"tag-queer-issues"},"menu_order":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1238"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1238\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14019,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1238\/revisions\/14019"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![Photo Credit<\/a>: By\u00a0](\"http:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Flag_map_of_Pakistan.svg\"){kind=link}