Sunday, August 29, 2010

This Is Why Coming Out Is Important!

This is a post in response to this post.

Being 'open' is the final step towards realizing the freedom for a LGBTI people! Freedom from what you will ask, the answer:
Let's take a Utopian situation where everyone respects everyone else, there is peace and harmony. People indulge in only one trade, the improvement of their lives and that of the earth. In such a world all men would be driven to work for a life without any prejudices and only the contribution of a person towards the society would be appreciated and taken into account. Clearly, we do not live in such a world. Our work is not just professionally judged but our personal lives are also taken into consideration, similarly our personal lives are affected by the profession that we choose. In short, it is all clubbed together and it is impossible to separate the personal and professional lives of an individual.
Now, this very world is also full of people with insecurities, people who are afraid of losing their power over others, losing their family, losing their love, losing their respect in society and with such insecurities comes a false disdain for everyone who is not like them. The inherent nature of people to form societies (it started by the necessary community building needed to hunt and survive in the harsh world and is now hard coded in our genes) also makes societal norms which are not logical but traditional at times. The attitude of society towards LGBTI is explainable though certainly not recommended.
So, what happens when say a guy marries another guy and comes out in public? It is mostly a defiant attempt of forcing an acceptance on the society by the couple. Why is it necessary for them to do this? There may be many reasons, one of them could be to cross that threshold which would make other things (like pressures at office, pressures at home, etc.) easier to handle. Besides, a lot of LGBTI are in fact a wrong sex trapped inside the wrong sex body. Guys who dress up like women, women who are tomboyish, they do not do this 'cuz they want to pretend that they are 'special' they ARE LIKE THAT! There was a time when having an alternate sexuality was considered an act of sexual addiction and impulse, but now we know for sure that for instance, being gay is not another attempt to get laid more often.
Why do the people of the 'community' join hands and praises when someone 'comes out'? I think it would be out of relief and a wish. A relief to know that things were looking better and a wish that the society accepts them fast.
It is important for the LGBTI community to come out in public, if not for the people around them then for themselves. A simple act of holding hands, which brings two souls together, is looked down upon. A person in the closet would never be able to overcome the fear and give the best to her partner. Coming out is an act of shunning the fear of the society and not a mere exhibition for the world. It is a freedom of the heart and nothing more than that!