Indian mother places advert in paper seeking 'groom' for her son
An Indian mother has placed an advert in a newspaper seeking a well-placed, animal-loving, vegetarian “groom” for her son.
It’s considered India’s first advertisement for a partner for a same-sex marriage.
Gay marriage is illegal in India and ‘canal intercourse’ could be punishable with anything up to a life sentence.
The ad also states: "Seeking 25-40, well-placed, animal-loving, vegetarian, for my son (36, 5'11") who works with an NGO. Caste no bar."
The groom, Harish Iyer, is a prominent gay rights activist based in Mumbai. He’s the only Indian mentioned in Guardian’s 100 most influential LGBT people in 2013.
"My mother is like any other mother," he told CNN.
"She wanted to find me a partner and help me settle down. It became news only because I was looking for a man instead of a woman."
Indian newspaper Mid-Day agreed to publish the advert, but CNN reports three other national daily newspapers refused.
Mr Iyer said the publications stated they couldn’t run the ad for ‘legal reasons’.
Mid Day's executive editor Sachin Kalbag told CNN his organization did not see the LGBT community as any different.
"A lot of credit goes to the advertising department because they treated this as any other ad."
Kalbag told CNN he hoped other papers will follow suit.
Gay dating-app Planet Romeo, says India is the 81st in the world for ‘gay happiness’, which ranks based on how gay men are treated by their societies.
However, in 2014, India became one of few countries to legally recognize transgender people as a ‘third gender’.
But Iyer felt the LGBT community in India were often bullied.
"Although we, as a society, are slowly changing, I think there is still a very long way to go,” he told CNN.
News break - May 21
