Society can learn lessons in tolerance from youth

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The standards of what is unacceptable to say regarding sexuality and gender in classroom discussions in colleges across India are much higher than before. Young people will no longer allow outright homophobia or transphobia. This is a massive shift from the situation over 20 years ago and can be attributed to social change ushered in by the queer community. This observation was made by a historian and gay rights activist who has recently been appointed the head of the All-India Professionals' Congress's (AIPC) newly created Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer Intersex Asexual (LGBTIA) vertical within the party. He was answering a question about whether change was happening in society when it came to queer issues.

It is heartening to see the youth leading the way, and the classroom is at the forefront of this massive shift from 20 years ago when homophobia may have been ‘normalised'. This is also because young people, besides being harbingers of change, are also extremely impressionable. If they have imbibed lessons from all what is happening around us, from gay pride parades on our streets on certain days, to a case for marriage equality, with same sex couples asking for the right to marry going to Supreme Court, then all the activists, petitioners and allies have a key takeaway that their battles have not been in vain.

It is these youngsters who can help change hearts and minds. From family members, relatives who they interact with to the community around, they are the ones who can challenge traditional gender roles, smash stereotypes, attest the ridicule and harassment. Youth power can fly the rainbow flag as an example and can prove that sometimes adults and society, too, can learn something from them too.