For some, it was underwhelming, but for others, it was a heartwarming surprise. People from the LGBTQIA+ community shared their coming out stories at Delhi's Pride event.
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00:00Mom, I like girls too.
00:02I attended the Queer Made Weekend event in the National Capital
00:06and met people who shared their coming-out stories with me.
00:10Why are you completely sharing your coming-out story with us?
00:13My coming-out story was quite stupid.
00:16I was dating and I had this crush on a woman who was engaged.
00:21My coming-out was very underwhelming.
00:30Hello, Delhi, frogs, we are queer.
00:37We are queer.
00:40Music, glitter, and love.
00:47That's how Delhi celebrated Pride.
00:50It's just so colourful and vibrant and everyone's themselves.
00:53In 2014, when I told my mom that I was gay,
00:59she said, you're a whore.
01:01Because my mom didn't know what being trans and gay was.
01:06She just knew that what our society told her was that being a whore is just a whore.
01:11They applaud me.
01:13I'm a trans woman and people don't see me, but I'm seen in a lot of wrong things.
01:18Sex work is my full-time job and begging is my birthright.
01:22That's what society tells me.
01:24I think I've been blessed with wonderful parents.
01:27I didn't have a problem talking to them about my orientation.
01:32My coming-out story was quite stupid, quite honestly.
01:35I think it went through my school.
01:38My teacher found out that I like women, blah, blah, blah.
01:41She told my principal about it.
01:43My principal called my parents and that's how they found out.
01:45My coming-out was very underwhelming.
01:48Although most of them initially felt nervous
01:50about revealing their true selves to their parents,
01:53they shared how coming out had been liberating for them.
01:57My dad wasn't that happy.
01:58But my mom was like,
02:00this is my child, what's going on?
02:02So it was a mixed reaction, but that's okay.
02:04But I didn't tell my mom.
02:06I have a different identity.
02:08And it took her time to accept who I am and what I am.
02:12But at the end of the day, my mom was a single parent.
02:14So she said, whoever you are, you're my son.
02:17So it's important for me to accept myself first.
02:20Because what will the society accept?
02:22Today, I'm a single mother, so no one will accept me.
02:24Who will accept you?
02:25So that's how my journey started.
02:27And by 2018, I transformed myself completely.
02:31And today, I'm Karnika's brother.
02:33I was about 11 or 12 years old.
02:36And I went up to my mother and I told her that I had a crush on this girl in my school.
02:41And she turned to me and she asked,
02:43do you like boys and girls?
02:45And I said, yes.
02:46And she said clearly and she went back to doing the dishes.
02:49But you know, I came out in middle school.
02:51So there was a lot of, but you don't like me, right?
02:55You don't want to kiss me, right?
02:57But my immediate family and most of my friends were very supportive,
03:00which I'm very lucky for.
03:01While some of the family members came around eventually,
03:05others are still clinging on to the hope of acceptance.
03:08Can you share your coming out story with us?
03:10I'm from a Christian background, okay.
03:12And in Christianity, it's kind of a stereotype that
03:16LGBT, they don't really support.
03:18So some people show even hate.
03:20I came out around 2019 in college.
03:25I was dating and I had this crush on a woman who was engaged.
03:32It was illegal for me.
03:34And then came college.
03:36I had an attraction with a girl which turned into liking romantically.
03:42Before that, I need to figure it out.
03:44I talked to my friend that,
03:46yeah, I think that I am into girls also.
03:52Later, I confessed to her that, yes, I liked you.
03:56And I told my mom,
03:58mom, I like girls too.
04:01And she was angry about it.
04:05Because again, Christian family.
04:07She was like, I gave you birth for this.
04:09That was so rude.
04:11We didn't talk for one week.
04:13But then I don't even remember if she remembers now.
04:17I sat my parents down when I was 14.
04:20And told them that I'm bisexual.
04:22And instantly they were praying that I would fall in love with a guy instead of a girl.
04:28And then I found out I'm asexual.
04:30So that's not going to happen ever.
04:31My dad was very, very open minded.
04:34He used to discuss pretty women with me.
04:40Like, that person looks nice.
04:42What do you think about them?
04:43And that fashion is not so great.
04:46So yeah, my mom,
04:47a little not so great reaction.
04:49Because she's Christian.
04:51But over the years, I've been working on her.
04:53So she's much better now.
04:55The two day festival brought people together to celebrate, support and promote businesses
05:00and products created by LGBTQIA plus community members.
05:04I think it's super important to have such events, not just because it makes us feel included.
05:08But you see, these are most of the pop ups are queer owned, you know.
05:11So this is a way to support businesses that deserve the attention.
05:14My message for the allies is keep going, keep doing what you're doing.
05:17We need you. We really need you.
05:18And we love you.
05:19This event is the reason a lot of us are able to come here.
05:23And it's a nice safe space we are able to do.
05:25And we look however we want.
05:27As long as we do not receive basic human rights, we do need something.
05:31However, people feel that the community needs more representation.
05:35Our LGBTQIA plus community needs to be together first.
05:41Our community is very divided.
05:43There's a separate group of lesbians, a separate group of gays.
05:46Trans people have to deal with transphobia.
05:48So when we leave all that and become a community,
05:51then maybe the outside community will be able to understand us, what we are, what we want.
05:56And visibility should start from home first.
05:59I think if we tell people about ourselves at home,
06:02then maybe we won't be afraid of the society.
06:04All the suicides that are happening today will be stopped.
06:06For acceptance, we need to first educate everyone
06:12and make them aware of what being gay is.
06:16The event concluded with the thrilling performances of Rani Kohinoor aka Sushant Digvikar
06:22and Lavani Queens from Kali Billi Productions among others.