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This Indian Mother Loves Her Gay Son So Much She Took Out A Matrimonial Ad For Him

The mother of  Harish Iyer, a gay rights activist In Mumbai, just wants him to be happy and settled down. So she got him to take out a matrimonial ad in a local newspaper, a common-enough practice in the country.

But when they tried to place an ad with DNA, an English-language broadsheet published in Mumbai, they were turned away on “legal grounds,” as India has recently re-criminalized homosexuality.

Mother and son weren’t deterred, though, and approached the Times of India.

Harish says at first the Times seemed eager to accommodate their request, but he received a call a few hours later and canceled it. “The legal department said that it was illegal” to place an ad for a man seeking another man, the person explained.

The Hindustan Times also refused to run the ad.

Their last hope was Mid-Day, a more lighthearted daily newspaper. Surprisingly, Mid-Day accepted the ad, which ran this week.

Editor Sachin Kalbag explained the paper's reasoning to BuzzFeed in an email.

A marriage is a meeting of minds, of souls. At Mid-Day, we believe that human rights should be applicable to all, regardless of religion, caste, colour, sexual orientation, etc. Therefore, a mother seeking a union for her gay son is perfectly normal.

Why should it be any different? In fact, why should we even be talking about it? In an equal society, which we all strive for, this should be routine.

Mid-Day stands for equal rights for the LGBT community and we campaign vociferously for it, regardless of whether there is a trial going on in any of the major courts... Our official stand is that India should not discriminate against any community, including the LGBT community, in any aspect of life.

Kalbag added that marriage, even in conservative India, is about love, compassion, and companionship. "If Harish Iyer, through this ad, is able to find an ideal partner who would be able to give him all of this, that would be one heck of a union.”

The editor ended by saying while he understood such a union would face opposition, "as a society we must never discourage any community member from finding an ideal life partner."

And if you’re a vegetarian animal lover between the ages of 25-40 who's willing to take a gamble on love, we know a cute 36-year-old in Mumbai you should call.

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