Twitter Exposure, Akal Takht & Gay Love

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 🙂

10 Comments
by on January 23, 2013  •  Permalink
Posted in Gay Sikh
Posted by Gay Sikh on January 23, 2013

http://www.gaysikh.com/gay-sikh/twitter-exposure-akal-takht-gay-love/

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  • http://Www.sarbat.net Dharam

    Hey

    Just going through your blog – keep it up , also wanted to know if it would be fine for us to link your articles on our facebook page. Also please do come to our event on the 17th of feb in central London. Details on sarbat.net

    Dharam
    (For and behalf of Sarbat)

  • http://www.gaysikh.com [email protected]

    Hi Dharam

    Thanks very much, yes please do add my website to your Facebook page, the more exposure the better. Could I also add Sarbat under “useful links”?

    • http://www.sarbat.net Dharam

      Please feel free to add us as a link – We have already featured your article recently on our facebook page – why don’t you join

      http://www.facebook.com\lgbtsikh

      • Gay Sikh

        Hi Dharam,

        I’ve added your link on the right side bar. Thanks once again 🙂

  • http://Www.sarbat.net Dharam

    Thanks and hope to see you in the very near future .

  • k kaur

    Biggest confusion comes when there are cases of pepeople claiming to naturally gay who later have a partner of opposite gender. this undermines the claim of being born naturally ‘gay’. It undermines the claim? There is no scientific or medical stance to support the claim hence maybe that is what is needed.

  • k kaur

    Also being born into a sikh family doesnt auto make one a sikh but may give expisure and recognition of teachings of sikhi. adopting sikh ethics basic values an understanding of Bani history is what empowers an individual to become a sikh. meditation is a must.

  • http://www.gaysikh.com GaySikh

    Hi K Kaur, thanks for your response. Am I correct in assuming you’re saying science has not proven that being homosexual is something in our DNA? If so, this has been proven many times, Dr Quasi has written many thesis’ about this.

    I believe that one can be born as a Sikh, but only they can become Sikhi, through knowledge of the Guru Granth Sahib Ji, doing sewa, meditation etc.

    Do you know any Gay Sikhs?

  • A Chahal

    “The Guru is the Khalsa, and the Khalsa is the Guru” … words of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji. If the head of the Panth, akaal takhat, say it’s not gursikh to be homosexual, then they are right. Period.

  • Gay Sikh

    Guru Nanak said that humans are prone to sin and making mistakes. Obviously the same humans are not running Akal Takht as they were when it was first created. Thus the meaning of Sikhism can have been interpreted differently. I believe that the Akal Takht’s word is NOT final, and IS subject to change, it’s happened before so I’m very sure it will happen again.