YASH: Courage, for me, is the ability
to challenge the status quo.
It's often said that it takes an army to drive change,
but it takes just one person to take the first step.
I'm Yash, and I identify as a proud gay Indian man.
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I grew up in a middle class Indian family
living in suburban Mumbai, singing
and dancing to Bollywood music.
Like everyone else, I was taught to value family
and relationships.
And so I spent lots of time with grandparents,
and at relatives' homes.
I remember countless evenings with friends and cousins,
eating street food and exploring new neighborhoods.
In school and during the sex education class,
another student asked about gay people.
And that was when I heard the word gay for the first time.
The teacher did not go into detail,
so I went home and searched for myself.
What does gay mean?
What I had seen in society is that gay people
were mocked at or made fun of.
It's important to remember that unlike today, it
was illegal to be gay in India when
I was discovering my sexuality.
It's painful to say it, but at the start,
I believed something was wrong with me.
I was so terrified of the potential backlash and ridicule
that I might experience from people I loved the most.
There was a real fear of being called out
if they found out I was gay.
Back then, it was a very lonely journey.
I now know this was a very common experience
for gay people living in India.
The idea of challenging the status quo
and coming out of the closet seemed
like it could become a reality for me
when I met Kiki 11 years ago.
This was the first time ever that I opened up
to another person.
It was you that changed everything for me.
It was the first time ever in my whole life
I had found one person that I could be myself with,
and it just gave me all this confidence
that you would stand by my side throughout the entire process
or the entire journey that I was on.
KIKI: Wow.
You just gave me goosebumps.
When you came out, all I could see
was the hope and the courage that you embodied
from that point 10 years ago.
YASH: After I came out to my friends and colleagues,
I realized that there is a normal life waiting for me,
and it's only me who can change it.
It's only me who can get to that ideal lifestyle
or that ideal life that I want for myself.
And parents were the last because they
would be the most hurt if they did not accept me.
And that was the reason I did not tell them.
After coming out to work colleagues,
I had the opportunity to go to Australia
on an educational trip.
I attended the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.
Well, you could say the rest of it was history.
Experiencing life as an openly gay man for the first time
ever felt like a sort of coming home.
It was liberating.
After coming back, I came out to my mom.
She initially didn't understand it.
It was a long process and the hardest part of my life so far.
And mom always maintained that she loved me,
but her worry was that her friends and extended family
might not accept me.
SPEAKER 1: Hi [INAUDIBLE],, how are you?
Nice to see you.
YASH: Hi, Mom.
How are you?
Over the years, Mom and I have worked things out,
and she is very accepting of me now.
And so much has changed in India.
Being gay is no longer illegal with the abolishment
of Section 377.
There's also more visibility for the queer in today's India.
Pride marches now happen across many cities
and even outside of the metros.
I would love for people to know that being gay
is a part of who I am and not the heart of who I am.
I'd also love people to know that even if someone has not
had to struggle with their sexuality,
it doesn't mean that they have not had to face
an awkward or hard situation.
Being respectful to a gay man is the same
as being respectful to any other person.
I could have led a very different life very early on.
And it was stressful having to deal with all
that I was going through on a day-to-day basis and then
still putting on a different version of me
to the people I loved the most.
And so if there is a child that's coming out,
the child has already been through a lot
to be able to muster up that courage.
So my advice would be, support your child no matter what.
Because the child will always come home and will seek
support, and the parents are the only ones who can provide it.
So, yeah.
Having a supportive family helps kids
deal with external situations in a more constructive way.
I didn't have that support, but once I got it,
it changed my life forever.
I would have loved a sounding board at home,
so I hope others get a chance to have it.
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