A homophobic shooter in Orlando enters a night club and ends 50 lives. A sting operation in Delhi reveals that ayurvedic doctors working at Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali clinics still believe homosexuality is a disease, a mental disorder.
The Quint believes its time to reach out… and offer #LoveToHomophobes. And as part of our campaign, we bring you this story from our archives.
‘Gay sex’, ‘homosexual’, ‘lesbos’. These are words often encountered in the media. But they are offensive and, in many cases, inaccurate.
The folks at Humsafar, an NGO that promotes LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) rights, have issued a manual to give us the right words, phrases and terminology. Here is a selection.
What You Can and Not Say
Homosexuals/Homos is a clinical term and its use in news/articles is considered to be derogatory and crass by LGBT people. For describing people who are attracted to the same sex, gay and/or lesbian is appropriate.
Terming homosexuality as a “condition” wrongly implies that it is a disease and that it can be “cured”.
One does not “confess/admit to being LGBT” as it lends an implicating tone to the person. Being LGBT is neither a crime, nor is coming out one.
Similarly, one is not openly lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender. While accurate and commonly used, the Humsafar Manual says:
The phrase still implies a confessional aspect to publicly acknowledging one’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
Gay Sex is a commonly used term in the media, but is considered offensive by the LGBT community.
Often, the context/preceding details of the story make it evident, that the activity/relationship was between a gay couple, so there’s no need to label it as such. Simply use terms such as “relationship”, “couple”, “sex”, and – if necessary –“gay relationship” or “same-sex love/behaviour”.
The dictionary describes a Eunuch as “a castrated man, especially one formerly employed by oriental rulers as a harem guard or palace official”.
This term is now considered offensive when used for Hijras and transgender people, mainly because of its general use as an insult.
The Seven Myths
The manual also busts a few commonly-held assumptions about LGBT people. Some of these are:
1. Gay men are feminine
2. Lesbian women are manly
3. Same-sex activity or anal sex is against the order of nature
4. LGBT people are demanding “special” rights
5. Therapy or psychiatric help can “cure” same-sex behaviour
6. Men and transgender people cannot be raped
7. Gay men, transgender people are primarily responsible for the transmission of HIV/AIDS
Humsafar Trust’s Pallav Patankar says they felt the need to produce such a manual in order to reduce misreporting.
We’ve seen a lot of misreporting in the Press. Most of the times journalists don’t know the right language or don’t have an understanding of the right words to be used when reporting on the LGBT community. There exists a lack of understanding between what is gender, sexual orientation, sex and the general issues around sex. That is why we felt the need to produce this manual.
– Pallav Patankar, Director Programmes, Humsafar Trust
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