An Indian prince opens his palace to the LGBT community

An Indian prince opens his palace to the LGBT community

Manvenda Singh Gohil, who made public his homosexuality in 2006, has a decade defending the rights of the collective.

Prince Mavenda Singh Gohil is a man who breaks taboos. In a country where sexual intercourse between people of the same sex is illegal, it is the first and only member of the Indian royalty who has publicly recognized that he is gay. In his particular battle to defend the rights of the LGBT collective in India for more than a decade, the heir to the ancient kingdom of Rajpipla has decided to open part of his palace to the members of this community who feel rejected by society.

Gohil is renovating and expanding its 6-hectare residence, offering rooms, a small clinic and an educational center to learn English or other skills to help the community find work. The complex will be managed by Lakshya Trust, an organization that defends the rights of the LGBT collective he founded just after making public his homosexuality and being repudiated by his family.

"People still face a lot of pressure from their families when they come out of the closet. They are forced to marry, or expelled from their homes. Often have nowhere to go or have the means to support themselves [...] I'm not going to have kids, so I thought: why not use this space for a good purpose? ", explained Gohil to Reuters agency.

The prince, aged 52, has suffered in his own flesh the situation he describes. Heir to the throne of the ancient kingdom of Rajpipla, now integrated into the Indian state of Gujarat, he hid his sexual preferences before his family during his youth and decided to marry Princess Chandrika Kumari of Jhabua. A year later they divorced. Laden with an immense sense of guilt, he tried to find "a cure" for his homosexuality that was never effective and plunged him into a deep depression.

In 2006, and following a newspaper leak, the prince decided to give an interview and publicly declare his homosexuality. His parents, who knew of his son's preferences but refused for years to make them public, repudiated his only offspring for having "humiliated the family." His homosexuality hogged the headlines throughout the country and has since become one of the most prominent activists in defending the collective in India.

Gohil is one of the most critical voices against Article 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which criminalizes homosexual practices. This is a provision promulgated during the time of British colonial rule that, despite being declared unconstitutional, justice has not laid down by arguing that Parliament should do so. Last Monday, however, the Supreme Court assured that it will revise the article in question. "Lifting this precept will encourage more people to come out of the closet and live their lives freely, but it can also mean more people who will need support," defended the heir.