I have been meaning to write this and it is long due. I joined GB in December 2016. When I decided to go for this meet organised by the same people, whose party I had missed the Saturday night before, I was as apprehensive, scared, and excited as every first guy(or girl) for his(or her) meet was. After meeting with people at the metro, I walked to where the meet was supposed to be. When I reached there, I was greeted and welcomed as if I was part of a family. Little did I know, that is exactly what GayBombay would turn out to be.
I was shocked (and eternally grateful) that the meeting place was at somebody’s aunt’s house. This family had opened up their actual homes for LGBT crowd who had nowhere to turn to, and who had accepted people without judgement. What I was even more shocked about and what probably stunned me was the fact that there were so many gay men present. SO MANY? I knew this was a meet and yet I was surprised. It probably comes from the fact that I had never seen, or met openly gay men before.
During the meet, people introduced themselves, gossiped, ate, spoke about issues. A wave of familiarity went through me. All of the people here had gone through the same struggle that I have, more or less – the struggle remains the same. When it came to me, I attempted to explain the state of affairs in my life. After I had come out to my father, which was less than 2 months before I joined GB, I was in a state of sadness, but mostly I was just pissed. It was probably the worst reaction of coming out I had gotten. Regardless, in this time of need, there was GayBombay, proud as ever, ready to welcome unfairly treated souls in their embrace.
I was sitting there and thinking to myself, “There are so many people here; I will be making tons of gay friends! I wonder will anybody among these be my lover? Will anybody be my boyfriend? Will anybody be my life partner?” These questions of which I had never thought before arose in my head, and I thought to myself that these people may become friends, may become lovers, may become life partners, but no matter what, these people will understand me (Here’s to you guys). What I am is not alone.
I have attended many GB meets after that, and the parties, and I am in a relationship now. If you would have asked me 2 years ago, whether I would be in a gay group, I probably would have said yes, but I would never have even imagined the staggering love and unwavering support, and the delicious samoses that I would have received.
What I am trying to say, while expanding on my first meet experience, is – Thank you, GayBombay. What you have done, what you are doing and what you will do is something to be extremely proud of. I am only one of the many whose lives you have touched and changed for the better.
– Venky
Gay Bombay 