Do you remember the story of Rudolf, the reindeer, who had a shiny red nose? And how every other reindeer made fun of him? His father even asks him to hide his nose so that he fits in. But then, Santa Claus looks at him, and finds his shiny red nose very useful: as the leader of the pack of reindeers pulling his sleigh through the snow, his shiny red nose could serve as a bright indicator in the dark foggy winter nights. This is the story of the person who does not fit in society's clearly defined roles: the outsider, the queer. How is that misfit included in society, made useful, rendered valid?

Illustration/Devdutt Pattanaik

We all have a shiny red nose. Some of us want to hide this from society lest we are mocked and rejected. We want to fit into the tribe. Some of us use that red nose to ensure they are never part of the group — thus asserting our individualism. Most of us are somewhere in between, revealing our shiny red nose when we feel we will not be rejected for it, or when we feel we will be admired for it. Sometimes, all reindeers with red noses come together and form a group of the persecuted minority or the group of the contributing minority. We feel such an organisation will protect us from bullying by the regular reindeers. The greatest fear is that Santa Claus will not find us useful, and so exclude us from his herd, or worse, get us culled.

Gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, inter-sexed and other such queer people are used to this discrimination by political and religious leaders, who have somehow decided that anything related to sex and sexuality is unholy and non-Godly. Even heterosexual men and women, who choose not to marry, or stay monogamous, are seen as dangerous misfits, who need to be ostracised. Disabled people need to constantly prove they are differently abled, so valuable, so valid in society. These are the very obvious Rudolphs of our society.