Strength TogetHER 12- Session 2

26th June, 2021

“Love is too beautiful to be hidden in a closet.”


Strength TogetHER , the second session  was themed as “Exploring the Rainbow” in celebration of pride month. Here, we discussed the complexities people from LGBTQI+ community face in the society even today. Our session was moderated by Nirvana Bhandary, a feminist writer,  artist and activist who  is also  the founder of The F Project Nepal, a writers collective and digital platform for feminist storytelling.


We proceeded the session with the speakers sharing their stories and experiences.


Having gone to an ‘All Girls’ school, the notion of the school to not be close with girls and even maintain physical distance with other girls was witnessed by our first speaker. Because  she didn’t know much about LGBTQI+ community and the presence of homophobic environment in the schoool, for the whole school time period she and her friends had misconception that being close and having feelings towards girls was actually a wrong thing.


Our second speaker talked about how she came out as a lesbian and wasn’t treated different by her cousins and college mates although previously her schoolmates had made a fuss about it. She also mentioned that coming out to people about her sexuality but them being awkward about it still makes her feel so uncomfortable.


Joining tinder, even though our third speaker hadn’t mentioned anything about her sexuality, guys often texted her asking if she were bisexual. One guy that she replied to about her being a bisexual turned out to be very respectful towards her. She also shared her exploration of her sexuality. 


Our fourth speaker shared how open-minded her mother and grandmother were about the LGBTQI+ community. Out of joy, she shared this with her guy friends and asked them to also talk about it with their parents, to which they first denied. However, they too happened to eventually talk about it with their parents and realized their parents too knew some things about it and were curious to know more about the LGBTIQ+ community.


In beginning of highschool after having changed sections, our fifth speaker met an amazing friend belonging to LGBTQI+ community, who taught her everything about the community. Also her benchmate, another friend of hers whom she had known for a couple of years trusted her and came out as a lesbian. She felt really happy that her friend trusted her, believing she wouldn’t judge her. She added that she really admired LGBTQI+ community for being so strong.  


The last speaker of our session shared her experience as a bisexual. She told us about an incident when she was asked if she had male reproductive organs when she came out to her college mates as a bisexual. She preached everything she knew about the LGBTQI+ community and since then, two of her friends have already realized their sexualities and come out as bisexuals.

 


Our moderator gently handled the session and she was so proud of us for understanding and willing to understand the LGBTQI+ community. She was extremely sweet and she had some suggestions for us too,which are:

  • Since teenage is generally the age where most of the people discover their sexuality, it's necessary for the schools to be more accepting rather than being homophobic.

  • If coming out would result in breaking from the family and society, then it wouldn’t be helpful at all.

  • If we are curious about certain things about LGBTQI+ people, it's better to google it rather than bombarding them with questions as it could turn out to be disrespectful.

  • It’s not easy for people to come out and talk about their sexuality because of the fear of being judged. So, every time someone comes out to us, we need to be supportive and uplifting.



Our moderator ended the session with an end note:

Everyone learns their sexuality at different paces; we shouldn’t be comparing our pace with others.

If one is suffering emotionally because of not being able to express them and their sexuality freely, it’s better to get support from professionals.


PREACHING PRIDE THIS PRIDE MONTH <3

Written By- Nirjara Shrestha (Cohort Coordinator)

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