Dan Pearce said, “If only i could change the world around us, perhaps my truth won’t one day be the end of me”. We believe no one should miss the opportunity to live their truth simply because they didn’t see anyone like them. That is what makes coming out stories so special. Coming out can be a scary thought, and a long process for many of us. And often, the journey of coming out takes a life of its own and results in surprising ends.
Today on National Coming Out Day, Gaysi has curated five coming out stories from it’s archive for you to read and celebrate our intimate lived realities.
Kicking Down The Closet Door
I’m a gaysi, through and through. I love my girlfriend as much as I love tandoori chicken. And I love that I no longer need to try and justify both of those aspects to myself – I fully accept and love myself. It’s just that sometimes I wish there were an instruction manual on how to do this. In a culture that (still!) can’t even talk with their daughters about heterosexual relationships, how do you bring up being queer? When everyone you know is a “didi”, a “bhaiyya”, an “aunty”, or an “uncle”, regardless of blood-ties, how on earth do you even begin to tell your giant Indian family? [LINK]
Coming Out : A South Indian Brahmin Speaks…
My sister’s reaction worried me the most, the night I told her she did not sleep and cried for a large part of it, her worry was also my biggest worry what would my parents say and do? This was the main reason for my continuing mental torment which continued for another good 4 years or so. I finally got the courage and knew it was time (in face of many marriage proposals that were coming my way) and told my parents. [LINK]
Do You See What I See?
When you share your inner most self you allow for recognition to happen. Sometimes we are afraid of being seen for what we are and this in turn causes us to fear being available to a world we long to enter. The greater damage is how we cease to be a vivid presence to our own selves. We choose the wrong mirrors and have to deal with false reflections. [LINK]
A Coming Out Story : In Retrospect
Years later when my partner and I came out, the reactions from our parents were far worse than we had imagined. They not only disowned us, they also blamed the western society and our corporate jobs for their evil influence on us. But, here we stand two years after coming out to our parents. They are still bitter, but life goes on. We’ve discovered a new freedom after acknowledging our sexual identity and are ready for the next hurdle that we meet on our way. [LINK]
Coming Out: The Dream
I was dazed for over a week. Did I want to die? No, I don’t remember thinking that. I only remember feeling there was no one – that everything I’d known so far was a cruel lie and now there was no one. I might be fighting heaven and earth to keep my share of happiness, but would I really have it when I’d distanced myself from the people I grew up loving? [Part 1, Part 2]
A Stonewall Of My Own
By letting you know I am Queer, I brought you into my closeted world – where the rules of society are stifling and empathy runs rampant. It is hardly a terrible place, the people in it make the best of it – they live and love when the whole world points and stares and decides for them otherwise. I knew how hard it would be for you. I knew I would be responsible for everything you went through hearing of my sexuality. [LINK]
