Which ones do I share? How about this one: I came out to my mom in my mid-twenties when I had my first boyfriend. There are many coming out stories in my case. Parmesh, 39 | Head, Godrej India Culture Lab, and author of Gay Bombay: Globalization Love and (Be)longing in Contemporary India If you’d like to share your coming out story, scroll down to the bottom of the article for details. We hope this series inspires other young Indians to find the courage it takes-and it takes a lot-to come out and love themselves for who they are. Nobody should be persecuted for being born a certain way, or for loving someone.
After all, that’s where it all starts-the moment when you say, ‘this is me, no more hiding.’ So we decided to speak to a few LGBT Indians and got them to share their coming out stories. And while the country’s LGBT community is no longer as invisible as it once was, there are still plenty of legal and social hurdles to overcome before we are anywhere close to the West in terms of equality.īut, change often starts with the individual before it permeates into society at large. India, along with 72 other countries, still criminalises same-sex love.
The objective? To sustain the conversation about LGBT rights and equality, while simultaneously giving India’s LGBT youth a platform to make their voices heard. This piece is the first in a series we’re hoping to run regularly.
