India’s first and only gay magazine tests taboos by making a comeback

SOURCE: Times Online
AUTHOR: Rhys Blakely

India’s first and only gay magazine is back on news stands for the first time in seven years amid hopes that taboos may finally be fading in a country where homosexuality remains illegal.

Bombay Dost (Bombay Friends) is being relaunched after going out of print in 2002 when the then underground publication ran out of money.

The English-language magazine’s publishers say that much has changed in India during the intervening years — even if a British colonial-era law banning sex “against the order of nature” remains firmly in place.

“India’s gay community is still illegal, but it is more confident and happier than ever before,” Nitin Karani, the editor-at-large, said. “We’re not constantly beating our breasts over discrimination and marginalisation. The new magazine reflects that.”

The original Bombay Dost was treated as contraband, Mr Karani said. Unavailable in bookstores, it was sold only by roadside vendors and often wrapped in plain brown paper. Inside, a typical article would give advice on how to set up an anonymous post box, to help gay men avoid being outed.

By contrast, the new magazine is being carried by major bookstores and promises to be “bolder than ever” after holding a launch event attended by a smattering of Bollywood stars.

Even so, where its British equivalent, Attitude, features scores of pictures of near-naked models and celebrities and sells in the tens of thousands, Bombay Dost has only one shot of Mr Gay India in swimming trunks and an initial print run of 1,500.

Most of the Indian glossy’s 56 pages are filled with lengthy book and art reviews, alongside features on gay rights issues both in India and overseas.

The magazine, which will cost 150 rupees (£2), will be published twice a year and has been promised funding by the United Nations Development Programme for the next three years.

There are hopes that urban India is gradually becoming more tolerant. The first Gay Pride march to be held in Delhi, the capital, took place last year – the largest event of its kind in the country.

The recent Bollywood film Dostana was heralded as groundbreaking in its treatment of gay themes — even though its two male heroes were only pretending to be gay in order to try to charm a girl.

Ashok Row Kavi, the founding editor of the original Bombay Dost, said: “Sure, Dostana was about a couple of fake gays, but there’s a scene where a mother accepts her son’s homosexuality, and for a mainstream Bollywood movie, that was a very big deal.”

But tales of discrimination are still common. India’s laws against homosexually are seldom formally enforced, but are often used by the police and former lovers to blackmail or intimidate gay men, Mr Karani said.

Those campaigning against the current laws have also been targeted. Celina Jaitley, a former Miss India turned Bollywood actress, who is one of India’s highest-profile gay rights activists, received hate mail for supporting the relaunch of Bombay Dost. “We have to accept differences rather than be afraid of them,” she said.