FOF #1316 – Oprah’s Favorite Gay Prince

Jan 24, 2011 · 50959 views
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India's First Gay Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil

Prince Manvendra and Oprah Winfrey - photo: Harpo Studios

In 2006, Prince Manvendra, the 39th direct descendant in the 651-year dynasty of Rajpipla, a princely state in Western India, made headlines around the world when he became the first Indian royal to come out as gay.

At the time, homosexuality was illegal in India due to stifling laws imposed during British colonialism. But, last year, the anti-sodomy laws were finally struck down and now a gay rights movement is blossoming in the land of the Kama Sutra.

One of Oprah’s favorite guests, Prince Manvendra, is now a gay rights leader, a health advocate and he recently launched a new gay magazine called “Fun,” in a culture that doesn’t even have a word for gay.

Listen as Prince Manvendra joins us in person from our home studio and shares with us his remarkable life on being India’s first out gay prince and gay life in India

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This entry was posted on Monday, January 24th, 2011 at 5:32 am and is filed under Interviews, Podcast, Politicians/Activists. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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      Comments

    1. Fausto Fernós says:
      January 24, 2011 at 6:12 am

      Bollywood has their fair share of hunks.

      Permalink | Reply
    2. seawall says:
      January 24, 2011 at 7:26 am

      Huh, iTunes usually downloads the latest FoF podcast within an hour of its posting, but it hasn’t yet, despite refreshing it, quitting and restarting my computer. Gonna click Refresh once more, then I’ll just click-Download-Save Link As and go to bed. Good night, sweethearts.

      Permalink | Reply
    3. georgesaintgeorge says:
      January 24, 2011 at 3:31 pm

      His Highness Prince Manvendra is very pragmatic for being royalty. I guess this comes from him having to redefine the responsibilities of his royal title. India is quickly becoming a major economic and social power and it’s reassuring to see a person with an inherited title opening a forum for discussion on human rights (for gays as well as all people).

      I wish I was in town when His Royal Highness was visiting. Having lived in Chicago’s Devon Avenue Indian community for many years, I would have been honored to have a audience with His Highness.

      Permalink | Reply
    4. seawall says:
      January 24, 2011 at 9:27 pm

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kothi_%28gender%29

      This is the slang word for gay that they mentioned, right? I assume it’s Hindi since that’s the one language commonly spoken across India.

      Permalink | Reply
    5. Andy says:
      January 26, 2011 at 2:45 pm

      Good to see a that India has a well-known, respected public person in India like Prince Manvendra who was not afraid to come out and is willing to fight for gay rights. The interview was very interesting!

      Prince Manvendra’s coming out and that he was able to open a discussion about gay rights in India as well able to publish the first gay magazine shows also the advantages of a democratic society. Even though India probably has still a long way go to when it comes to gay rights, in India the economic development seem to come with a promising social development. In other words the social development keeps pace with the economic delveopment which is a much better and solid foundation for future growth. Although a true,vibrant democratic society seems to develop slower at the beginning because it takes longer to make decisions it pays off at the end.

      For example Japan which I would not call a vibrant democratic society as the same political party was in power for more than 50 yeras, is really behind when it comes to gay rights and an active gay community compared to other equally developed industrial countries. The social development is far behind the economic development. A gay community you can only find in the biggest cities like Tokyo or Osaka, a popluar gay dating website like in the US or certain European countries is not avaible and women are still considered inferior,often doing jobs which require low qualifations. Defiitnly one reason for the struggling Japanese economy.

      Permalink | Reply
    6. SarahH says:
      February 9, 2011 at 5:54 am

      A remakable show guys, excellent!

      Permalink | Reply
    7. Barrett says:
      February 9, 2011 at 3:21 pm

      Just got around to listening to this today. Great interview!

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    8. Robert Lipscomb says:
      February 17, 2011 at 9:06 pm

      I really enjoyed this interview. I have been trying to locate a copy (or even get a subscription) to Fun Magazine. Unfortunately, I have had some challenges. I tried the email and have not heard anything back yet. I am also finding that I am blocked from the listed website listed on facebook. Unfortunately, Dallas seems to have lost it’s last gay bookstore. So, that route is closed at the present time. Is there another method I can take to attain a copy or subscription?

      Thanks

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