Few days back we witnessed a Pride Walk in Kolkata demanding equal job rights for the LGBTQ community and then I came across this post. I never thought that a Facebook post could change someone’s life. This guy on December 31, 2016 posted an update on his wall saying that he is gay and proud if it. While we all were deciding what to wear and where to meet for the New Year’s party he was struggling with a decision that had the potential to turn his life upside down. He decided to pour his heart out in his post on the last day of the year. He probably spent hours, days, years even, waiting for this moment. The time, however, doesn’t matter; the realisation does. After reading this post, I was in complete shock as this guy had dated 2 to 3 girls in the past. Although it never lasted more than 3 to 4 months. The reason he gave for the failure of his heterosexual relationships remained the same, “It’s just feelings, nothing else.” We never understood this. He is connected to his parents, relatives, and friends through Facebook and while his friends supported him through comments on the post, his family decided not to.
Changed my perspective of the world
We all know according to Section 377, IPC, “Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.” This section has only been possible because when it comes to gay rights all parties are united and take one stand which sums up to it being termed illegal and unnatural. The comments on that post, however, were all encouraging and supporting. No one was bashing or insulting him for being gay. The comments read as, “All the best bro.. supporting you ( not as a bf though),” “Bro respect hai.. Hats off, You have my sincere respect.” There are always a few haters but only one comment stated, “Age of Downfall has come.” The post had 46 likes and praises for it in the comments section with only one hate comment. This made me think that the youth is more supporting and actively participating to encourage the LGBTQ community.
LGBTQ Community
When we talk about this community it’s not limited to LGBTQ but includes pansexual, gender variant, asexual, intersex, transgender, queer along with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transexual and many others. Most of the Indians don’t know much about LGBTQ people but still support them because they are humans and they have right to live just as every human being on earth does. We need to address the community as a whole, including the many minority groups. It could be difficult for Indians to digest all the different names with a broad perspective and to extend support. The comments nevertheless suggest that this could be possible in near future. In a democracy the majority wins but in this scenario the minority needs to win.