I want to start this article by asking every single one of you a question. As an individual what is the one thing that you take pride in? It can be anything, maybe it’s your skills or maybe it’s your values but for some people it’s their identity. This identity of their’s wasn’t something they were always aware of or even if they were, it wasn’t something they were ready to accept. But finally when they made peace with themselves, it was the world that didn’t accept them. The fact that they have the courage to stand up against atleast 80% of the worlds population and fight for a place in this world even after fighting their own internal battles everyday says so much more about them.
These people I keep talking about are referred to as members of the LGBTQ+ community. The community is extremely large and consists of several allies as well, one of them being The Straight Allies. Not everyone who fits the description of an ally is one. An ally is one who accepts the fact that this particular community faces discrimination and thus are socially disadvantaged whereas us heterosexual or cisgender persons have advantages which should be used in favour of supporting this community and help it ‘fit in’.
The movement began with a simpler terminology and as time passed, new forms of gender started coming up and the LGBT community was more than happy in letting these people become a part of the movement and find a place for themselves. Now the community didn’t restrict itself to lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders, but also included several other forms of gender such as queer, pansexual, asexual etc. The community unifies people and gives them a sense of belonging. The irony of the situation is that these people found home and comfort between strangers rather than their own loved ones.
I’m not trying to accuse people but we need to realise that who we are as an individual and who we love is our business and nobody, I repeat nobody should have the right to tell us who to be or who to love. Not being heterosexual isn’t a choice people make once they grow up, they’re born this way and we’re no one to judge them for it.
We live in a society which pretends to be accepting and unorthodox and claims that everyone deserves a place in this world but that’s not how some people feel. Members of the LGBTQ+ community and it’s allies as well, are bullied and discriminated against everyday in some corner of the world. We don’t realise how many people who are around us on a daily basis struggle with their identities. It can be anyone, your brothers and sisters, your friends, your relatives, literally anybody. And even if they somehow figure it out, they prefer to stay closeted rather than exposing themselves to the harsh society.
As responsible citizens of this world, it’s our duty to make people feel comfortable with who they are. Of course the first step is to make peace with yourself but if we don’t assure people that their gender or choice of partner is not a factor in how we see them, they’ll never be able to express themselves. It’s the 21st century and we live in world where the sky is the limit. If we can’t let people take pride in who they are and express themselves without having the fear of being judged then maybe it’s us who don’t deserve to ‘fit in’.
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