“It has been devastating to find that anyone would choose to lie and steal from us, all under the guise of helping us find love”
BY KELLY-ANNE TAYLOR. PICTURED: REETA LOI
Reeta Loi’s investigative documentary for VICE TV, Gay Marriage Scam, exposes a fraudulent match-making business that is monopolising on India’s LGBTQI+ communities’ search for love.
Loi, a former columnist at DIVA magazine, joins The Arranged Gay Marriage Bureau – an organisation that promises to provide a revolutionary arranged marriage system exclusively for gay men and women – hoping to find love.
The documentary also follows the journey of fellow subscriber Keith as he searches for a husband. With over 3,700 clients globally, Urvi Shah, the founder of the bureau, charges a substantial fee to help individuals find love.
But over a period of 11 months, Loi and Keith are faced with plagiarised dating profiles, stolen testimonials and radio silence from their match-maker, making it clear the service is a scam.
The documentary exposes behaviour that feels malicious, unethical and illegal: “It has been devastating to find that anyone would choose to lie to us and steal from us, all under the guise of helping us find love,” Loi says.
“With so many of us lacking the support of family, to claim to be acting as such in the tradition of Arranged Marriage that is culturally so familiar to us, is also an unacceptable blow.”
Loi, who was disowned from her family on account of her sexuality, is a powerful voice for women and LGBTQI+ communities. In this year-long investigation she also questions why love is a basic human right for everyone except for LGBTQI+ communities in so many places across the world.
Gay Marriage Scam premieres on 27 April 2020 at 4pm on VICE’s Youtube channel and at 9pm on VICE TV
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