Young, urban men today prefer to accessorize their image with silk and satin rather than raw masculinity says Rohit Verma, celebrity couture fashion designer who claims to be one of the first cross dressers in India in the early 90s. Back in the day, Verma would flaunt his devil-maycare attitude by dressing ‘differently’ in a society where even diapers and baby clothes came gender colour coded. His bold dress sense was outside of the norm, raised eyebrows and often broke the rules.
Born and brought up in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, Verma feels that he has a woman trapped inside him.”I am totally at ease with my feminine persona and tend to think of myself more as a woman than a man.”
When asked about his controversial statement made on Indian reality TV show-Big Boss in 2009 about homosexuality being a ‘phycological problem’, he clarified that he was misunderstood: “Growing up confused about your sexuality and who you are is very difficult for a child, especially if you’re from a conservative city like Allahabad. Most Indian kids are conditioned to think that being LGBT is some sort of illness and we try to do anything possible to change that. Our schools don’t have sex education, which makes things even worse.”
He feels that the LGBT community in our country suffers human rights abuse and discrimination both at the hands of the government and the society. “I have learned that people can easily forget that “we” are human beings with feelings and emotions, just like everyone else. All of us are similar and different in some ways.”
FSOG is not only supported by the LGBT community but we have many heterosexuals joining us in the fight for universal human rights in India.
Aryan Arora, VP Sales and Marketing, Rohit Verma Store and Devinder Gautam, Director DG Entertainment joined hands with Fifty Shades of Gay as two straight people. They believe in equal rights for all – regardless of their sexual orientation.
“Human rights are legal and for all humans. LGBTQ community is as human as I am.” says Aryan, who enjoys working for an openly gay human.
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