Last night was a real milestone for this site. As usual, I get comments from Straight Sikhs saying that I’m “disgracing” their religion and that there’s no space for Gay in Sikhi. This time around, the comments were read by some influential Sikhs on Twitter namely Hardeep Singh Kohli, Param_TakeMeOut and Sky News Singh. After their retweets and inclusion in debates (minus Sky News Singh), this account got a LOT of exposure. Visits to this site went through the roof, almost tripled!
The main lesson I can take from this site is the knowledge that there is a lot of educating left to do. Most negative comments I received where challenging me to explain how there is a place for homosexuality in Sikhism. Well we all know that the Guru Granth Sahib doesn’t mention homosexuality, so it’s up to the individual to create their own opinions after equipping themselves with all the knowledge. Some users quite rightly mentioned that the Akal Takht (the highest temporal authority for Sikhs) has condemned Gay marriage and strongly discourages homosexuality within Sikhism. My response was simple: as Sikhs, we are on a journey of discovery and we have our own independent connection with God. As gay people, we KNOW that God created us this way. So surely we are perfectly formed, the way God intended. So why discriminate? This goes against the core foundation of Sikhism which is to treat everyone equally.
Another comment raised was around expressing gay love. One Twitter user argued that the sole purpose for sex between a man and a woman is to reproduce. I can see their point of view, however, who genuinely follows this rule today? Majority of Sikhs express love regularly and are not considered any less of a Sikh because of this, so why should homosexual Sikhs? If anything, Guru Nanak didn’t believe in celibacy, he believed it wasn’t good suppressing the human bodys natural feelings. However he did stress that sex should be carried out moderately. I believe if you choose to live your life the way you see fit and as long as you are good to others, meditate and believe in one God then you are a true Sikh. Obviously that is a very high level view, but it’s a good start.
Thankfully, everyone that was against homosexuality within Sikhism wasn’t exactly homophobic. They all said they haven’t got a problem with homosexual people, they just wouldn’t see why this blog and myself are “promoting Sikhism” for gays. This is both good and bad: good in the way that they accept homosexuals but bad because they obviously think that homosexuality is a choice (how foolish would it be to think that no Sikh can be gay), more proof here and here. Some even suggested that I should choose between my religion and sexuality. Being gay wasn’t a choice, it’s how God created me. I was born into Sikhism and to keep it is my choice as I believe it is the right choice
From all the positive comments received, some were from young Sikh girls. They fully believe that being a Sikh homosexual is accepted and cannot understand why others think otherwise. It was so overwhelming reading these tweets as this younger generation really could show the older generation a thing or two about love, respect, honest and equality. The Sikhi lifestyle is growing.