If there had to be an exemplar for heterosexual bias in the language around LGBTQI issues on primetime television, it could be a segment about the Supreme Court hearings on same-sex marriage on Sudhir Chaudhary’s show Black and White on Aaj Tak.
With gendered portrayals, fearmongering, amplification of the central government’s arguments, and tom-tomming of religiocultural values, the framing for a heterosexual viewer was clear. The dog whistle seemed to be that same-sex marriage does not bode well for Indian society and a third world country already dealing with problems such as electricity, poverty, hunger and unemployment.
