# Do You Know Any Gay Indians (From India) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 19, 2010, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-any-gay-indians-from-india/561255 "2010-11-19T19:43:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![lorene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@lorene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorene)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-any-gay-indians-from-india/561255/41 "2010-11-22T18:01:16Z")
> [@Dante](#): > > His mother is deeply in denial about this and maintains that he sleeps with men because of … wait for it … Tourette’s. 😕:eek:☹ Wow. That is some denial. I knew 2 gay Indian men in college, and have met a few more recently. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-any-gay-indians-from-india/561255/42 "2010-11-22T18:07:12Z")
A friend of mine is American-born Indian, and pings my gaydar (can heteros have gaydar? sure they can!)…_and_ he lives in San Francisco, _but_ he’s about to get married, to a woman. I could be wrong in this case, but it seems to me like an example of what others have mentioned – unspoken parental pressure, even among the American-born – and, perhaps, no problem separating one’s attraction (and maybe even sexual life) from one’s role as a husband and father. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-any-gay-indians-from-india/561255/43 "2010-11-22T18:23:22Z")
Would a rainbow bindi be funny, or offensive? Or both? Or neither? ---
**Author:** ![Gestalt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/90ced4/32.png) [@Gestalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gestalt)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-any-gay-indians-from-india/561255/44 "2010-11-22T18:34:13Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > A friend of mine is American-born Indian, and pings my gaydar (can heteros have gaydar? sure they can!)…_and_ he lives in San Francisco, _but_ he’s about to get married, to a woman. > > I could be wrong in this case, but it seems to me like an example of what others have mentioned – unspoken parental pressure, even among the American-born – and, perhaps, no problem separating one’s attraction (and maybe even sexual life) from one’s role as a husband and father. Heh, I have a cousin who fits this description (well, Canadian born). Is he a lawyer by any chance? ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-any-gay-indians-from-india/561255/45 "2010-11-22T19:18:14Z")
> [@Gestalt](#): > > Heh, I have a cousin who fits this description (well, Canadian born). Is he a lawyer by any chance? Nope. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-any-gay-indians-from-india/561255/46 "2010-11-22T22:46:35Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > … _but_ he’s about to get married, to a woman. Pffft - that in itself means nothing. I’ve had sex with guys that have had marriages/LTRs with women. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-any-gay-indians-from-india/561255/47 "2010-11-22T22:53:56Z")
For three days now, scanning the thread titles in MPSIMS, I’ve been getting “Gary Indiana” from the _Music Man_ as an earworm. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-any-gay-indians-from-india/561255/48 "2010-11-23T00:59:39Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > \ > > [Here’s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manvendra_Singh_Gohil) a bio of a member of a royal family in India who is openly gay and now advocates for LGBT rights. Hard to be closeted and dress like _that_… > [@Gestalt](#): > > Heh, I have a cousin who fits this description (well, Canadian born). Is he a lawyer by any chance? No, a doctor. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-any-gay-indians-from-india/561255/49 "2010-11-24T12:54:14Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > [Here’s](http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=7391234) an article about gay people in Pakistan. Read this and knew not much of an article > [@](#): > > Pakistan’s religious laws punish homosexuality with stoning Relevant section is 377 PPC. And its i) 2 years and ii) For “unnatural acts”. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-any-gay-indians-from-india/561255/50 "2010-11-24T12:55:49Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > I’m not aware of this ‘in-joke’. Care to elaborate? Stereotype of a man hating lesbian is that they have one of the following profession a school teacher, a journalist or your spinster aunt. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-any-gay-indians-from-india/561255/51 "2010-11-24T17:40:40Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Stereotype of a man hating lesbian is that they have one of the following profession a school teacher, a journalist or your spinster aunt. Intelligent, educated and self-reliant, hmmm? Still, I suppose it’s better than the British stereotype of all lesbians being social workers and physios (to be fair, quite a few are). ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-any-gay-indians-from-india/561255/52 "2010-11-24T19:26:48Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > Intelligent, educated and self-reliant, hmmm? Still, I suppose it’s better than the British stereotype of all lesbians being social workers and physios (to be fair, quite a few are). You missed out PE teachers. ---
**Author:** ![Dervorin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-any-gay-indians-from-india/561255/53 "2010-11-24T22:35:28Z")
My best friend’s mother is a lesbian of many, many years’ standing, and I have quite a collection of friends and acquaintances back home who are gay. No, this isn’t the “some of my best friends” speech; merely a statement of fact. Off the top of my head I can think of at least half a dozen flamboyantly gay men, and several others less so. Said friend’s mother has worked for many women’s’ organisations, including LGBT support groups, so clearly my circle of acquaintances is biased by this, but it’s not really terribly uncommon. The thing about India is that physical affection between men with no romantic agenda at all is very common - you often see men touching or even holding hands while walking down the street, and it doesn’t have the same implication of immediate homosexuality that it does elsewhere. It’s just normal and accepted, although in urban educated India that’s changing rapidly. Middle-class families like mine, however, would probably find it very hard to accept a gay child, and so I suspect a large number of people keep it hidden. I’m Indian, in case that needed pointing out. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2010, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-any-gay-indians-from-india/561255/54 "2010-11-25T04:49:42Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > Intelligent, educated and self-reliant, hmmm? Still, I suppose it’s better than the British stereotype of all lesbians being social workers and physios (to be fair, quite a few are). Actually not educated at all. Journalism was often thought of as the profession you went into when you could not be anything else, while a schoolteacher was hardly better. Different culture, different standards. Personally I know three Homosexuals. One a female, who has many many many problems none of them related to her homosexuality, she is bipolar and as a child suffered abuse at the hands of her step father. Two are male, one I cannot stand for reasons again different from his homosexuality the other I get along with famously. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Bird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Little\_Bird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Bird)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2010, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-any-gay-indians-from-india/561255/55 "2010-11-25T09:32:42Z")
Yes, I know one Indian gay guy from actual India. He’s an asshole. ---
**Author:** ![SomeBodyUK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@SomeBodyUK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SomeBodyUK)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2010, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-any-gay-indians-from-india/561255/56 "2010-11-25T11:47:09Z")
I’m of Indian heritage (UK born). I have a US born Indian cousin who’s gay. His father has come round to accepting it but his mother hates the fact that he’s gay because he’s the only son. She got him to talk to some priest to make him straight, he just laughed at him. His sister is fine with it. He’s withdrawn from dealing with the wider family because some of my distant cousins are very homophobic. He got beaten up by one of them when he came out. BTW A Hindu priest who was secretly gay was murdered in UK a couple of years ago. [link](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1430331.stm) ---
**Author:** ![babylon2150](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ebca7d/32.png) [@babylon2150](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/babylon2150)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2011, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-any-gay-indians-from-india/561255/57 "2011-10-07T23:59:53Z")
I am soth indian, and yes i am gay…i agree with you as far as how indian’s are soo homophobic, i receive the most amount of grievance from my own people unfortunately, for i would love to meet another indian who is gay , so i can lear how they are handling it as i come from a very strict south indian family. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-any-gay-indians-from-india/561255/58 "2011-10-08T00:21:35Z")
But do you know any gay \*zombie \*Indians? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-any-gay-indians-from-india/561255/59 "2011-10-08T01:18:36Z")
> [@adhemar](#): > > I have met several at a piano bar here in Memphis. I had met two of them previously where the preference was not clear (dance class-we have leads and follows not males and females) and then saw them at the restaurant. Being a little tipsy they had to introduce me to their entire group of friends and explain all of the relationships. I was amused. In my experience with social dance, most gay men prefer to lead, not to follow, and many won’t dance with other men when it would be nontraditional for the dance in question (swing, waltz, and so forth). Is this also your experience? And I can’t believe this thread is so long already without mention of Freddie Mercury, the Indian-born lead singer of Queen. He was ethnically Parsi, not Indian, but he’s still a great example in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-any-gay-indians-from-india/561255/60 "2011-10-08T02:00:01Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > So I just thought I’d ask, in your experience, have you known many gay Indians or form that South Asia region? Just one. Coworker/friend of my sister. They were working in Wyoming at the time–we made gentle fun of the fact that the state isn’t exactly known for tolerance to ethnic minorities or homosexuals. Never had a problem, though, AFAIK. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-any-gay-indians-from-india/561255.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-any-gay-indians-from-india/561255.md?page=4)