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THIS IS DISGRACEFUL FOR GOANS.
THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD NOT RECOGNIZE SUCH MARRIAGES.
WE ARE HEADING TOWARDS THE END OF THE WORLD WITH THIS
KIND OF RUBBISH ATTITUDE.
--- Goa News Network [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Gay marriages getting
acceptance from families
PTI
Monday, August 27, 2007 12:33 IST
PANAJI: Gay marriages in Goa which hitherto
lack social acceptance are now getting support from
unexpected quarters --
respective families.
Two gay marriages held with traditional rituals,
last month, in the state,
had their family members blessing the couple.
With no legal validity, the marriage, was solemnized
in Goa,
were not registered in the state.
This unexpected support has sprung pleasant surprise
for the groups working
for gay rights in Goa.
It's heartening to note that gays are getting
acceptance from their
families... this is happening for the first time in
the state which saw first
gay marriage three years back, Vishant Chodankar,
trustee, Humsaath
Trust, a non government organisation working for
gays told.
The NGO claims that around 30 gay couples have got
married in last couple of
years in the state. Few of them stay together while
in some cases, the
couple had to stay separately without family and
social acceptance,
Chodankar said.
For the NGOs working for rights of gay community,
the events that unfolded
in last month were surprising. We could not imagine
that the family
members just not only accepted the marriage but
personally arranged the
ceremonies, Chodankar said refusing to reveal the
names of the families.
Both the families are from port town of Vasco and
belong to middle-income group, he
said.
Humsaath volunteers revealed that both the couples
had an affair for seven
years.
In one such marriage, a boy underwent sex change
operation in Karnataka
before marriage. The couple got married at
Sawantwadi in Sindhudurg
district of Maharashtra but could not get their
nuptial tie registered in Goa sans legal validity,
Chodankar said.
Around five to six gays have committed suicide for
reasons like
non-acceptance of their relationship, HIV positive
status and thought of being
a gay are the few that dragged them to take the
drastic step, the
Humsaath officials said.
Few NGOs are rendering psychological counselling for
gays but the facility
does not reach to many.
There are instances wherein gays are forced to get
married to girls.
Their marriage is always on rocks which results
either in separation or
suicides, Chodankar said.
The NGO, during its work for last seven years, has
identified 6,000 gays in
14-lakh populated Goa itself.
We demand that gay marriage be legalised which will
remove social
stigma for the community. Government cannot ignore
this community which has
their own human rights, Chodankar said.
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1117988
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---
ECAP 2007 - Computer Society of India - Goa Chapter inaugurates its 15th
Exhibition of Computers Allied Products at Hotel Mandovi, Panaji
at 9:30am on Sep 8, 2007 at the hands of Mr. M. N. Rao - Advisor Director
(IT) Department of Computer Science - Government of Goa.
All are cordially Invited
---
