@desi-lgbt-fest Day-4: Ten Steps Forward, Two Steps Back
A Single Spark
TW: Homophobia
Today I'm here with a real life incident, the first one that I was reminded of as soon as I heard this theme.
It was back in 10th grade, all of us were back to offline classes after the dreadful online ones. 2 years ago, we'd been juniors who looked up to our seniors in 10th grade but now we were those seniors who were looked up to. I didn't realise this much until I finished grade-10.
My school regularly conducted sessions related to hygiene, communication etc and this time the topic was about sexual health. A well known gynaecologist was invited to take up the session for the 9th and 10th graders together. We went to the school hall, I was sitting next to my then best friend.
The gynaecologist first spoke about the importance of sexual wellbeing and how to protect ourselves from STDs etc. Soon after the topic shifted to impulsive and reckless sexual behaviours in teenagers. And that was when she began talking about how teenagers are simply thinking that they are homosexual because they have been staying with people of their same gender for a long time. How it is only because of people they are surrounded by that they think they are not straight. Not being straight is simply now a trend and a trap that young children are falling into without knowing anything. She continued to say that homosexuality doesn’t exist, it is just a misbelief and a phase. She proceeds to urge us not to fall for such things and stay away from people who suggest all this.
And by this time, I was enraged. My best friend was already out to me but I was still closeted, she knew I was an ally nevertheless. There were already rumours going around that both of us weren’t straight and that we were dating each other, so I decided not to risk anything. I controlled myself until the QnA session when I suggested to her that we go and actually question her about it. My best friend was scared, she was anxious about speaking out to everyone but I asked her to trust me with it and I assured that I’ll be the one questioning the gynaecologist and she can just sit beside me. I went forward, took a deep breath and held the mic that was given and asked her why she would simply call it a phase when people from the community are actually existing. And I stated a bunch of article numbers that came up to my mouth because I forgot what the actual one was and said some random lines about how homosexuality was legalised in India. (I mean who would know I was bluffing-) I never in my wildest dreams expected what followed. The entire hall began clapping. They haven’t done that for anyone else, not even for the so-called doctor herself. It was so loud that she had to shout and quieten everyone. It was such a proud moment for both me and my best friend but our happiness was short-lived because the response we got from the gynaecologist obviously wasn’t anything positive. It was after this that I realised how many allies are actually present among us and how their voices just aren’t loud enough to be heard.
Though the gynaecologist’s response made us feel like we went two steps back, what followed after that day was definitely 10 steps forward. Almost a year later, I spoke to a junior anonymously and she told me how that one question changed the entire trajectory of things at school. No one has ever dared to question someone about their homophobic ideas in public but we did. That was enough to begin something that won’t be dying anytime soon. Sometimes all that people need is a tiny bit of revolution, the hope towards change. It is all just a matter of a single spark.
