The Time Is Now Ripe For Reform

I wrote in vain to the Interim Cabinet and the National Consensus Commission repeatedly with two prayers on behalf of the country’s LGBT community. Previously, the Constitutional Reform Commission set up by Mr. Yunus and headed by Prof. Ali Riaz had recommended the following (translated):

The Commission recommends that the limited list of prohibited discrimination in the Constitution be revised to include a broader range of factors -- such as religion, ethnicity, race, skin colour, indigenous identity, language, culture, gender, political opinion, physical or mental disability, economic status, place of birth -- and many more (Page 48, Report of the Constitutional Reform Commission, 15 January 2025).

I have humbly prayed in my correspondences to have “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” added to the list -- gender and gender identity being two different concepts, and that both having the need to be included. Doing so would prohibit all forms of discrimination against the full spectrum of the LGBTQIA+ community.

When needed, we would be able to receive protection from law enforcement, and we would find our rightful place in the country. If kicked out of a rented accommodation by a prejudiced landlord, or if faced with termination of employment by virtue of proven account of discrimination by an organisation, we will have our sacred Constitution to look up to for reassurance.

I have also prayed for Section 377 of Bangladesh’s Penal Code to be removed. This section, inherited from British rule, is stated as follows:

Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.

Explanation: Penetration is sufficient to constitute the carnal intercourse necessary to the offence described in this section 5. Anyone could be deemed a criminal under this sexual conduct clause. Yet, this provision has, unintentionally or otherwise, rendered the entire LGBT community criminal in the eyes of the state. To my knowledge, no one has ever been prosecuted under this clause in Bangladesh.

But we all know that this legal chain still lingers over our heads. It has been used to blackmail us both by individuals and members of the police department.

Adult men who have been victims of rape have been hesitant to seek justice out of fear of being prosecuted themselves, for the law only viewed the sexual act itself, without considering whether it was consensual or not. One adult male victim in Bangladesh recently committed suicide after such an incident probably for this reason and shame.

It is unclear to me how sufficient pressure in Bangladesh could be created such that a government of the day could be entrusted with these two reforms, against the backdrop of severe opposition from religious and other conversative people.

It is conceivable that Section 377 could one day become part of history in Bangladesh, but once an amended or new constitution is approved in the country through whichever means, it is unlikely that it will be opened up again for review or amendments in the near future.

I ask my fellow LGBT people in Bangladesh to dig their heads out of the sand and do their part in even the smallest of ways to make it remotely likely that the two extra criteria against discrimination concerning us get included in constitutional discussion.

Our allies in the wider society are welcome to join us in this endeavour.

I am hoping against hope that the issue of LGBT rights in Bangladesh can be viewed by most people in the country through the lenses of anti-discrimination and not through that of any special rights, and certainly not through any notions of promotion. There is nothing to promote here. My conversations in the X group revealed a few more misconceptions that I should end this article with. The two point demands that I have been consistently making through social media supposedly promoted homosexuality. 

When challenged as to how removing discrimination promoted anything, the response received stated that more people would become gay simply because being such would become more acceptable in the country. I am hoping that I have been able to argue that a person’s sexual orientation is innate and that it cannot be changed in either direction.

More gay people would indeed find it easier to be more honest to themselves and all and would cease to live lives of lies. But that is materially different from more and more people magically becoming gay.

I have also been amused by fears among some members of the X group that giving gays or LGBT people in general state recognition (not that that is what I am really asking) would mean the occurrence of Pride parades where colourful semi-naked people would pollute our streets with their debaucherous ways.

They have shared screenshots of Pride parades in Western cities to prove their point. Again, I fail to fathom how removing discrimination will automatically orchestrate such events on our streets!

LGBT rights do not necessary equate to Pride parades though the latter has had a long history associated with LGBT struggle in the West and is now a form of celebration (debauchery included). In Bangladesh, such parades may not ever become necessary if LGBT basic human rights were secured.

If there was ever to be such a parade, it would take place in tune with local culture and norms and would become an occasion for celebration embracing everyone wishing to be a part.

Last but not least, securing LGBT rights in Bangladesh would mean NOT emigrating to the West out of necessity, for those in the community who have agency. It would also NOT necessarily mean rambunctious DJ parties full of half-naked, drunk and/or high revellers in private nightclubs. If those parties do occur, they will not be limited to the LGBT community since there is nothing unique about such parties that cater to gays and transgenders only.

 Securing basic human rights for the LGBT community in Bangladesh would mean achieving the licence for its members to grow up authentically, loving the person of the same gender of one’s choice (for cisgender gays and lesbians), loving the person of one’s choice (for other members of the LGBTQIA+ community), and enjoying and owning all the rights and responsibilities as a citizen of the country, just like everyone else.

This is nothing revolutionary, just pure common sense once the layers of ignorance, prejudice and fear among our detractors are overcome. But there is a final angle that needs to be viewed through. As discussed earlier, the religious right in Bangladesh has found a new voice post July 2024. There is a firm belief within that voice that opinions of the people with that voice are somehow more valid, more important and more to the point, divinely inspired.

This belief manifests itself in anything and everything the religious right in Bangladesh says or does. This nut has to be cracked on its head. There is nothing about their stance that renders it deserving such an elevated status in Bangladesh 2.0, no matter how much those people may wish it. Those of us who have buried our heads in the sand post July 2024 really must rise up to this challenge.

We should arm ourselves with other facts too. We are not spreaders of HIV AIDS and other forms of sexually transmitted diseases, any more than heterosexual men who regularly visit brothels. Safe sex is a responsibility for all.

In this discussion, conservative people will always default to religiously narrated traditional families and that way of life. While pretty in its textbook form, it is surprisingly absent in many a stratum of our society, something that is conveniently and self-servingly glossed over.

This reality will not change no matter the extent of religious preaching. With material and educational enrichment will come the desire for more personal freedoms particularly among the youth (straight and gay) who will indeed resort to more premarital sexual relations more often in the future. It is therefore imperative to view the world as is and not how conservatives may imagine it to be.

Safe sex methods therefore need to be de rigueur and complement Bangladesh’s successful family planning efforts since the 1970s.

When our detractors resort to the theory of evolution, not that they actually believe in such heresy and yet point out rather childishly that if we all turned gay we would go extinct, we have to understand what evolutionists have said about why we have existed since time immemorial and the fact that the human race shows no sign of going extinct by its own accord (climate change notwithstanding!).

Our people keep hovering around the 5-10% of the global population and no credible information makes itself available to the contrary. We have to learn and teach about what role we have played in nurturing the human race (think of historical and famous figures). Since this merits a paper in its own right, I will leave my esteemed readers to do their own bit of homework here.

But it should be mentioned that the purpose of evolution for a species is to survive. Procreation is only one method applied for this survival. There are others which is where we come in -- for example, by adopting orphans and raising them with all the love and care to let them be who they are. Back to procreation however, thanks to modern medicine and scientific methods, having one’s own children is no longer the exclusive territory of heterosexual couples.

Gay male couples or simply gay males can have their own children through surrogate mothers and artificial insemination. Lesbian couples or simply lesbians can have their own children through sperm donors and artificial insemination.

Procreating in such a way is not against laws of nature since that would mean infertile heterosexual couples, availing themselves of these modern methods, were also committing something against laws of nature, a view not widely held by society.

For those who may be wondering if children of gays or lesbians would turn out to be gays or lesbians too, it has been demonstrated that sexual orientation is not passed on to offsprings, except for in some rare coincidental cases. 

And finally, us homosexuals, transgenders etc  are not unnatural, and neither is what we do sexually. We exist in nature -- always have and always will -- just like everyone else and what everyone else does. Mother nature needs, loves and nurtures such variety in her dominion.

Riaz Osmani is a political and social analyst.