INDIA: A well-known Indian LGBT and social-rights activist has starred in a cheeky public service announcement video to promote People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India, reports GayAsiaNews.com
Harish Iyer talks about his love for cocks and urges viewers to love them, too. He remarks that cocks love to be stroked, have a mind of their own and make a big show of themselves in the morning.
The viewer, lest they be led astray, are left with no uncertain ideas that he is referring to roosters and with Iyer ending by urging viewers not to eat cocks.
Iyer is a popular LGBT and social-rights activist who has spoken on public television against the sexual abuse of children.
He is also the only Indian to be listed in the World Pride Power List 2013, sharing the honor with Stephen Fry, Ricky Martin, Elton John and Martina Navratilova.
“Cocks and chickens are amongst the most abused animals on the planet. Chickens used for meat are often crowded by the thousands into filthy sheds,” says Iyer. “If you’re like me and you love cocks – and other animals – the best thing you can do for them is to leave them off your plate.”
“We urge people to join Harish in wiping hate from their plates by pledging to go meat-free and saving animals’ lives,” PETA India CEO Poorva Joshipura said in a press release.
At the slaughterhouse, chickens often have their throats cut while they are still conscious and are even dunked in scalding-hot water while they are still aware of what is happening to them, the press release added.
The video is PETA’s ingenious way of not only promoting its ideals for a more humane handling of animals but also at the same time focusing on India’s anti-gay law.
It comes at a time when Indian gay rights activists are waging a legal battle to do away with the colonial-era “Section 377” law that describes same-sex relations as “unnatural” and punishable with life imprisonment.
Efforts have resulted in a flip-flop with courts decriminalizing and then recriminalizing the Section 377 law with the Supreme Court this past December upholding the validity of Section 377, reversing the 2009 Delhi’s high court ruling that decriminalized it and gave the gay community broad protections and rights.
Currently, a new Supreme Court bench has agreed to re-examine that decision.
