A local music artist who also happens to be a close friend of mine has faced much discrimination over the years for choosing to live a homosexual lifestyle and promotes it to show his support for the gay community. What makes this case different from other cases of homosexuals who are discriminated against for the lifestyle they have chosen? Well, Kanwar is a gay member of the Sikh community, and the only one I happen to know of at that. I'm sure there are other gay Sikhs out there, but when have you ever come across one who is so very open about it? Kanwar Saini (who also goes by his stage name
Sikh Knowledge) is an amazing music artist and a great friend, yet is exploited for his sexual orientation rather than any other attributes he possesses. This article talks about his most recent encounter related to his sexual orientation, in which Facebook chose to take down a photo he posted of him kissing another man during the
Global Day of Rage protest in Toronto in a defense against India's ruling criminalizing homosexuality.
Religion has nothing to do with sexuality, and those who believe so are bigots. Kanwar has my full support as a friend and as a fan of his work. As he stated in his Facebook post, share this not for recognition but for the visibility of homosexuality as a lifestyle. Props to him for having to put up with so much hatred as a gay member of the Sikh community.
