'All of us are raised to be homophobic,' says 'Karim' (not his real name), a 28-year-old gay man living in Lahore. 'In Urdu, I am a humjinsparast.' He laughs a little. Hum-jins-parast literally means 'same-sex worshipper'. We agree that tedha (crooked, not straight) is probably an easier term, and more contemporary. As a gay man confessing to being slightly homophobic, he nonetheless seems very comfortable with his identity. He says he was conscious of his queerness from an early age, and thus has had time to acknowledge his identity and process it. Despite his ease, however, social acceptance seems far from imminent.
'Pakistan is a homophobic place,' Karim continues. 'As in any other conservative society, queers can have all the sex and love that they want – as long as they're quiet about it. One of the problems with this is that people can get away with a lot of things, murder included.' He pauses. 'There are no codes, no rules. So if someone fucks you over, you're totally alone.' His earlier nonchalance gives way to a more contemplative tone. 'You're already a criminal. And that's tricky business.' Honour killings, which have gained notoriety for being highly oppressive towards women, also target queers, ostensibly for bringing shame and dishonour upon the family or clan. Murders often go unreported and uninvestigated.
The prohibition against homosexuality in Pakistan is two-fold. First, the Indian Penal Code of 1860, which Pakistan inherited, criminalises homosexuality under Article 377, which states:
Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment of either description for a term which shall not be less than two years nor more than ten years, and shall also be liable to fine. Penetration is sufficient to constitute the carnal intercourse necessary to the offense described in this section.