Tanika: So um…I like somebody.
Sumati: WHAT? OH MY GOD! Is it someone I know? Wait, so like a boy from our school?
Tanika: Not exactly.
Sumati: Ummmm but I don’t know boys from other schools.
Tanika: Uh I never said it was a boy.
Sumati: Oh, I’m so happy for you!
Tanika: You don’t think it’s a problem? That I like a girl?
Sumati: Listen, if it’s what your heart is telling you, then so be it!
Sumati was over the moon when Tanika, her best friend, confided in her that she was in love. Sumati didn’t care if it was a boy or a girl. She was just happy that her friend was in love!
How often do we come across a Sumati, or a supportive brother, or doting parents who tell their loved ones that their sexuality is OK? That it is OK to like someone of your own gender? That it is OK to feel like you not the gender assigned to you at birth? That it is OK to feel you don’t like anyone or belong to no gender?
We know that numerous young people in the LGBTQ community grow up having to hide their identity because We, You, I, and Us often judge and reject the choices (to live out and proud) that our loved ones make. This has a serious impact on a person’s self-esteem and sense of self-worth. But there are many We, You, I, and Us who have supported our loved ones and their journeys.
Change in any society happens when WE accept it.
So this Pride Month, Love Matters, India’s leading online Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) information platform, celebrates stories of love, support, and companionship young LGBTQ people in India have received or given during their journeys. We are launching a week long campaign–both online and offline—from June 10 to June 16, 2019, called ‘#AgarTumSaathHo: Celebrating Support, Acceptance and Allyship’. The campaign will celebrate solidarity among members of the LGBTQ community and their cisgender-straight allies.
Online, we will be sharing (and publishing) stories of support, acceptance, love, and respect that members of the LGBTQ community have given and/or received from their allies from friends, colleagues, parents, teachers, partners, and the wider society.
Our objective and hope is that these stories will encourage more empathy, acceptance, solidarity, and allyship between cishet and LGBTQ people in post-377 India.
Offline, we are hosting a letter-writing event in collaboration with The Goodwill Tribe and 91springboard, in multiple cities, on June 15, 2019. We are accepting letter requests from the members of LGBTQ community, for their friends, family, colleagues, partners, teachers, or strangers, who have supported them in their journey and struggles, to say thank you for their love and support. The allies can also submit a letter request to thank a person from the LGBTQ community to express their feeling that they experienced while supporting an individual from the LGBTQ.
We truly believe Love Conquers All. So, join in with your efforts. Read and share our stories on your networks online and take part in our event offline. Because #AgarTumSaathHo then everything’s possible!
More details on the event here.