When did you come out?,is a question often put forward to me!!
Frankly, for us in the #LGB community, we have to ‘come out’ every day. Some times, every moment.
Did this make you wonder?
Think about it! When I lived a ‘straight’ ‘heterosexual’ life, no one ever asked me ‘when did you come out’ or ‘are you straight’? or ‘how does it feel to be straight’.
But, as a queer person, I get asked this all the time.
But, what you don’t know is that every day, when I walk out of my home, I have to ‘come out’ to multiple people. I
f I am with my partner, I have to often explain that she is my ‘life partner’ not a ‘business partner’ as they assume as soon as I say, ‘we are partners’. Often I have to explain, even over a call, ‘I am queer, I have a female partner‘. Often, as I stand at the GP practice, for our medical needs, I have to disclose that ‘I am queer, we are partners. I need to be included in our medical conversation’.
Some days, I have to ‘come out’ multiple times as I recollect; at the children’s school, during medical emergencies, just speaking to someone casually. Then they say. “Oh”.
I wonder if this will change some day.
Our ‘Coming out stories from India’ series deals with such lived stories. Do subscribe to my [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/embed?listType=playlist&list=PLZDO6eN4SbZ4sl5qshvy3N5ovaPssirfY[/embedyt]) and follow the beautiful journeys of queer folks!
Coming out is extremely tough, even that once. To come out, every day, doesn’t get any easier!