Being the child of politically active parents I was always inspired by the people who'd fight for their rights.

Written by Pravishti (She/Her)

Queerspeak 1.0

My best friend introduced me to a popular story-reading site that helped me to delve deep into the world of what it meant to be queer. Although I had a rough idea about the queer community my perception of it was negatively affected by society but it slowly changed over time. I didn't have any concept of being in the closet and came out as Bi as soon as I realised that about myself. My parents already knew the gist and were open to knowing more about it. They weren't outrightly negative but they still saw this as a phase that'd pass. To counterbalance I actively tried to normalise this conversation in my house by actively speaking about it and handing them resources to read. 

Being the child of politically active parents I was always inspired by the people who'd fight for their rights. My first ever task after entering college was to find a place where I could continue this fight. I believe that as queer people, rights wouldn't be served to us on a platter and we'd have to fight for them. Through the years I've been detained. I think so much fighting has made me immune to surface-level remarks. My relationships with people have also been affected because of my identity. At large, women seem more tolerant to me but at times they too end up creating unfriendly environments. I have found my place though where I feel welcomed. This innate sense of your social standing and a will to fight for the betterment comes with the privilege of getting a quality education. This is why you feel that we need to place importance on providing the lower economic groups with better resources and opportunities for a better future for everybody. I personally work with a NPO and help bridge the gap in queer education. But we can only bring about a change if more of us are willing. We need to recognise that LGBTQ community is an unrecognised minority. Sure we need Bollywood to do better with representation but I believe that issues like this shouldn't overshadow the fact that Trans and Queer people are discriminated against on a daily basis. I hope that someday we get more queer people in the fight for their rights whether it be the current Trans Bill issue or marriage equality.