They will counsel those who are grappling with the sexual identity of their children
To tackle the communication gap between parents and LGBTQ children, and to support their own children, Mumbai parents are coming together to shape a support group with the help of an LGBTQ activist.
Aruna Desai, who travelled the road of acceptance for her son Abhishek nine years ago, is one of the pioneering parents. "My son never told me that he is gay," says Desai. "It was me who asked him because I was able to see that he was scared to share something about himself. A child might even be scared of hurting the parents with their sexual identity, and thus won't come out. A parent should show more empathy and love for a child who has confronted all these fears and yet come out to them, instead of feeling hurt."
Speaking about how the group will help each other, Desai, added, "The group is still at the primary forming stage. Through this support group, we will be talking to parents and also help children who are afraid to come out and speak up." They will meet in informal ways at different spaces.
"Everybody has their own story and struggle when told that their child is gay or lesbian," says Pradeep Divgikar, father of actor, singer and former Mr Gay India Sushant Divgikar. "The support group is about meeting up with like-minded people and sharing experiences. The objective will be to find ways and methods to support our children. This meet-up will be a movement to empower our children and make them strong by supporting them for what they are."
For financial support, the group has turned to crowd-funding. Out of the total funds raised, 10% will be used to form the group and the remaining amount will go towards making a film called Evening Shadows (Surmaee Shaam), the script of which depicts the journey of a mother's acceptance of her gay son.
Director Sridhar Rangayan, who will be making the film, said: "The support group is on the lines of PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) in USA. This is a very important need right now and we hope we receive support from everyone to make this dream a reality. The aim is to for parents [who are tackling the homosexuality of a child] to talk to other parents [who have already accepted it]. We are talking to over 20 parents; seven to eight have agreed to be on the committee."
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