I've written and drawn a rather impossible children's book to get published in Pakistan. No one would want to touch this with a ten foot pole, I'm sure...some day perhaps.
And no unfortunately, 'The West' did not pay me to spread this immorality and taint Pakistan. ;) Would've been nice though.
There is no denying that we are a homophobic nation. And an oddly homophobic nation at that, where same sex experimentation is sometimes temporarily ok amongst boys, because they don't have access to girls (girls however, must remain virgins till they are sold wed). A nation where two men walking down the street holding hands is perfectly acceptable, but a straight couple might get shot for doing that (I honestly almost got driven over for holding my husband's hand while crossing the street, full burqa'd woman called me a slut through the window as she drove into us, forcing us to let go of each other). A playful ass grab is nothing amongst guy friends, but any mention of gay rights or equality, and the homophobia comes pouring out. Aside from all that - theres also the er, state-sponsored homophobia, which declares homosexual activity illegal.
I mean that is fucked up.
What better place to start, than with young fresh minds to combat such twisted thinking.
Pakistani children today, severely lack resources that are not painted over by a religious extremist brush. We have things for kids that glorify the burqa...sure. But not much that really embraces the 21st century. They've banned YouTube for fucks sake. That and the breast cancer page on wikipedia or something - because it contains the word 'breast'. Heterosexuality is barely allowed to exist in the public realm, homosexuality is unfathomable.
As a country, we're drifting towards a more extremist mentality every second. And as a result - so are our kids. They are the country's future. By the time I have kids and they are grown, I want there to be a country left.
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Exciting news.... My Chacha is Gay has been translated into Italian, you can view that here http://www.ilgrandecolibri.com/2014/03/libro-gay-bambini-pakistan.html
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Folks: We are officially live now - please visit our crowdfunding page and donate what you can... you can also help by spreading the word!
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UPDATE: our crowdfunding campaign was a huge success, thanks to all of you wonderful people. Now its time to get the book into more hands! Order your copy here !
