Looking for a 'GROOM' for my 'SON': A small step for a mom, a giant leap for the country?

MUMBAI: "Seeking 25-40, Well Placed, Animal-Loving Vegetarian GROOM for my SON (36 5'11") who works with an NGO. Caste No Bar (Though IYER preferred)."
Placed amid hundreds of other matrimonial ads in a Mumbai daily , the one above would not have stood out on an idle perusal. It's import, however, was not lost on the section's really intent readers, and the thousands of others who have posted and reposted it online since.

Thanks to the two words in capitals -GROOM and SON -this particular advertisement has made history as it is possibly the first gay matrimonial ad to have been published in a mainstream Indian newspaper.

The ad, which appeared in a tabloid earlier this week, was placed by the mother of prominent LGBT activist Harish Iyer. He has long called himself an `equal rights' activist, campaigning as vociferously for animal rights as he has for the LGBT community , a point his moth er did not forget while writing up the matrimonial ad.

The ad was rejected by many publications, including The Times of India, for legal reasons, before it finally made it to Mid-Day . It is especially significant for India's LGBT movement as the country continues to criminalize homosexuality .

Iyer says his mom Padma placed the ad because, like all Indian mothers, she was worried that her son was still single at 36. The ad was the result of her desire to see him settle down.

In a Facebook post, she later clarified her reference to caste saying the "IYER PREF was meant to be a tease.Though I should admit that is typical that mothers wish their children should be married to families whose culture we know of (sic)".

Times View

This paper has been at the forefront of a long campaign to decriminalize gay sex. We also believe that the state cannot dictate whom we choose to marry. Sexual or marital relations between consenting adults should be a matter of their choice. The Modi government must move quickly to change regressive laws that impinge on our personal freedom and seek to impose an outdated Victorian moral code on us.