Valentine’s Day or perhaps the entire week leading up to it, is one of the most irritating time of the year for me, second only to Holi.
Especially on social media and advertisements, all I see are disgustingly in love heterosexual, which means man and woman, couples, engaging in sickeningly sweet acts of love and affection.
And I can only take so much of those just done to death ‘Kiss me’ ads by Cadbury. I mean… who even eats their chocolate like that?!! Where do they wash their hands and mouth after it’s covered in chocolate?!
Anyway, that is a topic for another time, my point though is I usually scroll past such ads on Valentine’s Day as a rule of thumb. However, something made me stop on this ad.
The ad basically showed, a woman telling all the reasons why she didn’t like Valentine’s Day. But followed it up with how, it wasn’t because she was lonely, or single, in fact it was the exact opposite.
She did have someone, only that person was not someone the society expected or wanted a girl to be with, simply because their genders were the same. The Indian law and the regressive mentality, did not allow them to celebrate the day of love in a way they liked.
The ad ended on how finally, with the decriminalising of homosexual sex, the couple can finally show their love out in the open without any legal fear and celebrate Valentine’s Day just like any other straight couple.
This is the first valentine’s day LGBTQ couples can celebrate openly.
Something To Wonder About
On 6th September 2018, the Indian Supreme Court took the historic step to finally abolish Section 377 which essentially criminalised homosexual or same-sex sexual intercourse.
This put a lot of the LGBT community in the closet in fear of legal action being taken against them, simply for loving someone who the society did not deem acceptable.
While you could say that homosexuality in itself was not a crime, but any indication to homosexual sex could lead to trouble. So a lot of the community had to hide their real selves.
However, it is only after watching such ads that you truly realise how big the announcement was for the LGBT community and that for many it’s big since they will be able to celebrate their first Valentine’s Day out in the open without fear.
Read More: I Am An Openly Gay Person In Delhi & I Believe Normal Is Boring!
The Power Of Ads
Ads are really powerful in today’s time and they can work to change how we perceive things around us.
That is why such big brands including LGBT representation matter, since it sensitizes the society to them and make them see that they are just normal humans, who are no different from the rest.
Uber India also started a campaign to celebrate the first Valentine’s Day in India that every person can celebrate. They also turned the route map from its usual grey to a bright rainbow color.
Another brand had included a lesbian couple in their recent ad for Valentine’s Day that was posted on Facebook. The only thing was how it was just 1 LGBT couple among at least 5-6 other straight couples.
But, I mean, they could have added one or two more LGBT couple, like a gay couple, trans and so on if they actually wanted to show representation.
However, the end goal is that, in face of the many hundreds of straight couple videos and ads that we are bombarded with constantly, it’s always nice to see actual representation. Also realise that this particular Valentine’s Day in India has more significance than we realise.
Image Credits: YouTube and Google
Sources: News18, Adage India
Find the blogger @chirali_08
Other Recommendations:
