What hurts the most if you are gay is to find your immediate family discriminating you. I am ever grateful that my family is ever supportive of what I am and what I do. Having grown in a society where gays are frowned upon, I am thankful that I was spared from more painful memories. Not that I do not have my share of sad stories related to my gender but at least the support shown by my family cushioned it a lot.
I was reading through the anecdotes of the just concluded town fiesta of my hometown when I came across a post of some boys dancing with skirts on. Cross dressing is always a hit and I appreciate it that the presentations at the town gathering included such activities that normalize such practice. What infuriated me were the comments of some people I know. They mentioned names of gays at a very demeaning tone. Much more, these gays are even their relatives. Even if that was not me, it hurts to find the very people you expect to understand you the very people who initiates an avenue for ridicule.
Let us not blame the remoteness of our town to the backwardness of our understanding towards gender. As a tourist destination, we are exposed to an overdose of culture, personalities, practices, quirks and gender. We have long been connected to the mainstream media and that internet is not just a thing to imagine. What is stopping us from evolving from the culture of discrimination.
The comments of those few are not my only indicators of what I claim as a traditional discrimination of my kind. There are a lot more. Getting discriminated from a discriminated community doubles the pain. Will there be a time when we as a community can treat each other as equals? I hope I can see that in my lifetime- for I am definitely working my butt off to be at par with the best of the heterosexuals. Call it over compensation but for me it is just doing my part.
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