Pakistan gets its first LGBTI themed book for children
A new book by a Toronto, Canada based Pakistani author hopes to teach tolerance towards LGBTI people in Pakistan and beyond.
‘My Chacha is gay’, crowd-funded on Indigogo is believed to be the first ever resource designed to teach Pakistani young people about different family arrangements and tells the story of Ahmed, a little boy who lives in the city of Karachi in Pakistan and his gay favorite uncle.
Ahmed lives with his parents, sister, grandmother and uncle Chacha, and they are often visited by ‘Uncle’ Faheem – Chacha’s boyfriend, who is a pilot and lets Ahmed wear his pilot’s hat.
In the story Ahmed talks about how he likes his uncle Chacha because they have fun together flying kites and because he takes him for camel rides on the beach and for ice cream sodas.
In the book a conservative Muslim shouts at Chacha telling him to get a wife but Ahmed says he knows Chacha and Faheem’s love is the same as his parents for each other.
The book was written by Eiynah NM, who is also the author of the Nice Mangos blog about sexuality and Pakistani culture.
