Tamil Nadu: Couples take to social media to celebrate, normalise queer romance

CHENNAI: Just a few months away from celebrating their fifth anniversary, Suresh Ramdas, 39, from Kanyakumari and his partner Soham Sengupta, 29, documented the story of how they met in a Bengaluru cafe on Museum of Queer Swipe Stories, an Instagram account by Gaysi Family and Tinder. The post read, “When we said our goodbyes and hugged each other, it was magical. I wanted to hug him a little longer but I pulled away.”Social media projects on platforms such as Instagram have been featuring simple and poignant love stories of queer couples. Initiatives such as the Museum of Queer Swipe Stories and official Humans of Queer aim to normalize desi queer relationships in the largely heteronormative discourse.Ramdas, an IT employee and Mr Gay World India 2019 winner says, “Being a part of the LGBTIQ+ community, most of us grow up in the shadows. Sharing our love stories, it could be a source of strength for those who are still in the closet.” Founder of Gaysi Family, Sakshi Juneja says, “We talk about all aspects of intimacy, love and queer relationships.” Initiating a conversation on queer relationships, which are not tragic, deeply political or with pop-cultural influences is very rare, she says. “We tend to ignore the beauty and mundanity of queer romances.” The Mumbai-based initiative has received more than 800 entries from couples across the country. For 22-year-old founder of Humans of Queer, Yash Sharma, the lockdown was very special as he came out as gay and also began his Instagram initiative. “While there are so many spaces that showcase heterosexual people, I wanted to create a safe space for my folks,” says Sharma, whose page gained more than 1,500 followers and featured 200 stories within a month of the launch. In the process of conveying happy stories, the negative ones aren’t overlooked, says the student from Delhi. “One such story that inspires me is Vishwa and Vivek’s relationship, which we published recently,” says Sharma.Vishwa Srivastava, 34 and Vivek Patel, 24, a queer couple from Ahmedabad, have been married for four years. Srivastava believes that witnessing a queer couple being themselves in the comfort of their homes is a crucial part of normalizing homosexuality.Deepthi K, founder of the Chennai-based social support group Chennai Queer Cafe, believes that though these stories cater to small strata of the English-speaking, queer people with access to the internet, it is a huge step in creating acceptance. “I follow these pages. Larger issues such as abuse and violence are not usually the themes here, however, being a part of the LGBTIQ+ community, I find these posts relatable and they make me happy,” she says.