Opinion - Letters to the Editor

On homosexuality

According to Mohana Krishnaswamy "It is the major responsibility of society to nurture what is desirable and discourage what is not. Homosexuals need our sympathy and understanding but not our encouragement ... " (Letters, Nov. 10). Society has no business to encourage or discourage any relationship between two consenting adults. Also, why does she feel that a homosexual requires her sympathy?

I am 23 years old with a job that pays well. I have a family that supports me, I have friends — both straight and gay — and my colleagues respect me. I am a law-abiding citizen leading a responsible life. Why should I become a criminal just because someone who loves me is a man and not a woman? I do not want some stranger's sympathy; all I want is not to be prosecuted for being what I am.

Rakesh Suvarna,
Mumbai

With little regard for medicine, human rights, and modern thinking, Dr. Krishnaswamy continues to plod on her course of intransigence. She continues to give herself the privilege of deciding who is `desirable' in civil society and who is not.

Balakrishnan Kameswaran,
Kozhikode

The Hindu deserves praise for its progressive outlook on such issues. As for the reader who argues about homosexuality perpetuating victimisation (Letters, Nov. 13), I think we should not conflate non-consensual and abusive behaviour with sexual orientation.

If we were to equate child molestation, rape, and domestic violence perpetrated by men with sexual orientation, we should have criminalised heterosexuality a long time ago.

L. Ramakrishnan,
Chennai

I am immensely perturbed to note that Dr. Krishnaswamy's views are being attacked. By scientific reasoning alone, all kinds of human acts cannot be permitted to flourish to the detriment of individual and social health. Permissiveness has its limits. If transgressed, it will result in the loss of natural equilibrium and end in an irreversible chaos.

B.R. Kumar,
Chennai

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