Summary
Why is homosexuality still illegal in the world's so-called largest democracy? In his celebrated family memoir 'And All is Said', historian Dr Zareer Masani made no bones about his own homosexuality and the problems it posed growing up in the India of the 1950s and '60s. Much seemed to have changed in the intervening half century. But with a renewed Hindu nationalism dominant in both political and cultural life, Zareer returns to Mumbai (formerly Bombay) to find out whether growing acceptance of gay rights is being put in reverse. Attempts were made in the recent past to overthrow an old colonial law making homosexuality a crime punishable by life imprisonment. The Delhi High Court held that this section of India's criminal law was unconstitutional; but that decision was overturned by India's Supreme Court two years ago. Zareer asks Justice Shah, who gave the earlier, landmark judgement decriminalising homosexuality, whether its liberal impact can really be reversed. He talks to the various gay and lesbian groups who are active in Mumbai, and to prominent, openly gay individuals like Mr Gay India 2014. Zareer returns to Bombay's elite Anglican school where he once suffered homophobic bullying. And he spends a day with the amazing Humsafar Trust, that provides everything from HIV treatment to counselling and legal advocacy for LGBT men and women outside Bombay's affluent, liberal middle class bubble. In his youth, Zareer found it impossible to live an openly gay life in the country of his birth. This programme is his journey back home to find out whether the liberalisation he's observed during his lifetime has now been halted by the moral policing of governments and religious extremists. Producer: Tom Alban.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Why is |
| 0:05.0 | is homosexuality still illegal in the world's so-called largest democracy? |
| 0:11.0 | In his celebrated family memoir, and all is said, historian Dr Ziria Masani made no bones about |
| 0:17.1 | his own homosexuality and the problems it posed growing up in the India of the 1950s and 60s. Much seems to have changed in the country during the |
| 0:25.6 | intervening half century. But now with a renewed Hindu nationalism dominant in both political |
| 0:30.4 | and cultural life, Zaire returns to Mumbai, formerly Bombay, to find out whether growing |
| 0:35.5 | acceptance of gay rights is actually being put in reverse. |
| 0:39.2 | Welcome to Seriously with Me Testament. |
| 0:41.8 | This is gay Bombay. We are living in Germany. |
| 0:53.0 | We are living in Germany. |
| 0:55.0 | In the dark times, please to give you our hands. |
| 0:59.0 | Prima in Indus gateway of India, door of the east with its face to the west. |
| 1:06.0 | The words of my O-school song sung to the tune of the Harrow's song. |
| 1:15.0 | The Cathedral School was and still remains the most elite school in my home city of Bombay, now called Mumbai by local nationalists. |
| 1:25.0 | I'm beginning my personal journey around gay Bombay here in front of this wonderful old |
| 1:31.8 | Victorian Indosarrosenic Building because this is where I spent the most |
| 1:36.0 | formative decade of my life and encountered the problems of expressing a different sexual orientation. I dislike team games, I suffered |
| 1:46.6 | homophobic bullying, I had very few friends and I took refuge in literature books and art before I eventually left to go west. That was half a |
| 1:57.8 | century ago and I'm back now to see how much life has changed for gay people in India. |
| 2:04.0 | Mumbai at its heart has always been a very very progressive city. |
| 2:11.0 | It is way ahead of the rest of India and suddenly I take great pride in it. |
| 2:15.2 | Indian society is very much in a don't ask, don't tell sort of more. It comes naturally to them. |
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