That gay men use websites like PlanetRomeo.com to find sex isn’t news — but that didn’t stop India’s TV9 Telugu from undertaking a special investigative report to out the site’s users in a segment called “Gay Culture Rampant in Hyd,” going so far as to exchange messages and record phone conversations with the site’s cruisers, and then broadcast their conversations. While being gay and having gay sex in India is no longer a crime, that doesn’t mean everyone accepts it. And hey, maybe it’s sweeps week or something!
According to an English translation of the report (PDF here), the reporter relays: “A boy trying to pursue Girls is Common but Boys pursuing Boys has become a Fashion Gay Culture in Hyderabad is increasing drastically. All the gay men in Hyderabad go to clubs or pubs once every week or ten days to celebrate. They Drink and Dance with whomever they want.” A club appears on screen, and the reporter adds: “This is 3 star pub in Secunderabad where software employees, rich kids and students party on weekends but there is a specialty to this party the people you see in the video drunk dancing are Gay. Having got to know about the Gay Parties the TV 9 team went to investigate and found the truth. Meeting, drinking and partying like this on weekends has become a ritual to the gay men in this city. Taking private party permission as an excuse all the gay men unite and party. It might sound astonishing to hear but this is the reality. There are also very popular websites for gay men in the internet Planetromeo.com is the most famous website amongst others. The numbers of users from Andra Pradesh in this site are 6,500 out of which 4,604 are from Hyderabad alone, who login, message, chat, meet and celebrate using this site. Any given times there are about 200 users online on the site from the city. Software employees and students are most users who fall prey to this GAY CULTURE. Sexy pictures, fashionable clothes, thrilling behavior and being able to communicate properly are the weapons used by a gay man to attract another gay Man. The picture that you see is of Person (D) who happens to be a software engineer who has taken sexy pictures of himself and uploaded on the site to attract other gay men. [Photo changes] The guy in this picture is Person (R) who is a student at JNTU University who lives in the dormitory. TV9 has trapped Person (R) after having seen the pictures and contact information that he uploaded on the profile.”
As you can imagine, the local gays aren’t pleased. And no wonder: While nobody should expect much privacy if they post identifying information and photos about themselves online, few expect those pictures to wind up on a televised newscast where they’re branded as disgusting, morally bankrupt sickos.
UPDATE: At least one man identified in the segment has attempted suicide, while others say they are already being victimized in the work place and are hiding from their families.
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Holy Shit!
How awful.
Francis
Absolutely awful. Pure exploitation and basically going out of their way to make these men look like sex crazed perverts. But, sadly, this is not surprising in a country that just legalized homosexuality. Gonna take a long time to get countries like India on the right path. My thoughts go out to the gays in India.
Simon
Some of the guys are really hot. If any media in my country would cruise gay dating sites for manhunt they would loose their publishing license – it’s not freedom of speech situation, it’s more like making cheap diarrhea news and messing with people’s life’s.
Adonis-of-Fire
I detest Indian culture.
Shannon
And THEY detest YOU with HOLY PASSION!!!!!
Vab
I am an Indian – gay – and on PR. Thank you, queerty for bringing this to my attention. There goes all my face-pics.
The fact is – it is not Indian culture (as Adonis pointed out), but the hiccups society faces in accepting something they had been taught was wrong. The same happened in Uganda recently.
I am truly upset that this has happened, and my heart goes out to all those who have been victimised by this. This is cruelty at its worst, where people had not realised the collateral of their actions. Many prominent Indian media outlets are strong advocates of societal acceptance in India, including gay rights. TV9 just went rouge – and it is disgusting!!!
Adonis-of-Fire
@Shannon:
Yes Shannon, thank you, and in cultures like that if you are a woman or a trans person you are second class citizen to a man, so you better get on your knees and start licking my asshole clean you worthless whore.
Francis
So, what’s happening with the TV station that outed these men like this? Some type of legal retribution? Something clearly needs to be done here to send a stern message.
DEVIL INCARNATE
@ADONIS:
And does your country treat gays and transgenders absolutely at par with others, eh?? Most states in the US don’t allow gay marriage. So much for being first class citizens!
Ryan
This news is disgusting. I’m an Indian and was on PR before my current boyfriend made sure I didn’t check any other booty. Just because the majority of Indian gays are closeted this stupid channel has even had the courage to do such a report (can hardly call it that though)
The reported should be shot dead or something.
Adonis-of-Fire
@DEVIL INCARNATE:
At least in the USA my parents aren’t forcing me to marry a stranger, and I don’t have to lie about my skin color.
HD Gay Vid
the video already removed 🙁
DEVIL INCARNATE
@ADONIS
Well I don’t know what you mean by lying about skin colour… but there are still many parents in your country who would disown you if you are gay. Ditto in India, except the problem is on a larger scale here. USA had its sexual revolution in the 1960s. India is having it now. There is nothing wrong with the Indian culture as such (the only instance of an execution of a gay person was of a Goan teenager by the Portuguese colonialists). Its just that the country is at present conservative… but given that the current generation wants to break free, you should see situation improve dramatically over the next 20 years. Already most Hindu fanatic groups have dropped their opposition to Valentine’s Day. Indian society is a work in progress, just like your own, and detesting it while considering your own supreme is quite hypocritical.
Lawrence
@DEVIL INCARNATE:
Devil, there’s a difference between:
-being allowed to legally marry your gay partner, and
-being allowed to pursue your sexuality without being publicly outed in the media and publicly harassed.
I live in a state that doesn’t allow gay marriage and, even though gay men & women have far to go to be accepted fully, I don’t personally feel victimized. I still live a free and open life with my partner. I will eventually be granted the ‘right’ to marry him, but until then, I will not sit back and wait for it to come to me. I will fight for the very right that I believe is mine. And while I’m doing that at least I don’t have to worry about my local news showing my personal profiles posted just to out me.
India is one of the most socially conservative nations on earth when it comes to dealing with homosexuality. And that’s even more disturbing when you remember that this is the culture that introduced the Kama Sutra to the world.
DEVIL INCARNATE
@LAWRENCE:
I am having to move in circles here. I accept that India is conservative (though violent homophobia is absent here, unlike the US). Also we are not quite as conservative as the African/Islamic nations.
If you are going to use this particular incident to conclude about the attitudes of the media (or the general society) towards gay people, then that’s not fair. Please read this BBC story.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8131924.stm
The current incident is just one stupid regional channel going rogue. I am sure you have your own TV9 equivalents.
Atheist
@Adonis and @ Lawrence
Indian here too but I have been living in the US for a long time. Indian culture or society does shackle freedom of the individual and it is all about duty and shame. I am no fan of indian culture, but as @devil incarnate has pointed out homophobia does not reach to an extent where you get killed. In our family, people got married outside of the community, with who they have fallen in love with and I have known people where divorce, adultery, child abuse and all such occur amongst indians. I am out here selectively and my white colleagues at work make homophobic and anti-woman jokes more than my indian colleagues. Many a time my indian colleagues, change the topic and come to my rescue. Here too in usa, how many mixed couples do u see? All things exist in all cultures, and India has a long way to go before it becomes a kinder place. It is kind and cruel at the same time. I came out to my friend in India when I was young and never faced discrimination. So one cannot paint a broad brush stroke where many nuances exist and can only be discerned when one observes a culture closely either American or Indian.
Adonis-of-Fire
Well I am against arranged marriage, discrimination and shame based on shade of your skin, conservativity that probably isn’t even truly Indian but borrowed from victorian England, etc
BlogShag
I’ve seen enough of India to know what a shit hole it still is, from the shit polluted lakes to dead people thrown in lakes that people swim in and bathe in :\, to the incredibly awful smog and scatterbrained infrastructure. Gross
BlogShag
Addendum) I’m surprised everyone here is so shocked at the way they are treating gays in India. The USA does the same thing is some parts, and just recently accepted gay life when you think about it.
OutGuider
This is terrible. I always wonder why these people are so suspiciously interested in gay life. If you don’t like gays, just stay away.
Shannon1981
This is terrible. My heart goes out to these men, and I truly hope they make it through this.
ESH
What muck-raking crap this purported news channel is reporting on. This report on the video is nothing more than just another invasive attempt at trying to “report” on the news when lazy broadcast journalists have nothing more to do with their time. Ugh. As a fellow journalist, this makes me sick.
dheee
Dear Friend,
woh ever has posted this article, its great, apprichated but i request you to take out my pic please.
Thanks
D
kotresh.s
most like to gay sex
samay mishra
hi me samay i like gay sex
abdus salam
hi my dear older man
i lik old man my nam is abdus salam
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Clan
I like Indian men… But some can be RACIST towards Blacks… They are fixated on skin color… The lighter you are the better you are in their eyes… Not every Indian I have met is this way… I love their food, and respect their culture, The station that reported this should be removed fro the airways… How dare them to so this! And for all the haters.. I am partnered with an INDIAN male for over 25 yrs. He is a wonderful man! The love of my life…