Gay couple in India gets married in a close ceremony in Hyderabad making them the first gay couple to get married in Telugu states. The duo created the buzz all over social media back in October when they announced their marriage.
With the scrapping of section 377, the identification of third gender, giving equal opportunities in professional life and equal right in personal life to people belonging to LGBTQIA community, we have progressed a lot and have come a long way but still when we look at the Indian population; there is still homophobia present in significant amount. Fighting the deep rooted homophobia, Abhay Dang and Supriyo Chakraborty became the first gay couple in India to get married and break the stereotypes.
Though, same sex marriages are not recognized in India yet, this gay couple made their 8 year long relationship official in a private ceremony on December 18, 2021. The wedding had haldi, mehndi as well as sangeet ceremony in its full glory. Though mehndi to be associated widely with the bride during the wedding, this first gay couple in India held the mehndi ceremony for all the men at the venue. The sangeet function had kathak performances. The bridegrooms wore designer white tuxedos, exchanges rings and vows and called each other soulmates.
The wedding ceremony did not involve any marital rituals or any official formalities, the couple made sure that they include Punjabi and Bengali traditions. During the haldi, they wore the Bangali tapor (headgear).
The ceremony was officiated by their close friend, Sophia David who identify as trans woman and is a member of LGBTQ community. She is an activist advocating for the rights of the people belonging to the community.
Supriyo Chakraborty is a faculty member of the Institute of Hotel Management and Abhay Dang is a senior manager at Amazon. They both met at the online dating site some years ago.
After crossing all the hurdles, they told their respective families about each other. The gay couple didn’t have the support of their family initially and they decided to give each other some amount of time. Later, the families accepted the gay couple with open arms filled with love.
Though the marriage could not be registered under the Indian law, but that did not stop the gay couple to celebrate their love with their friends and family.
The news of their wedding will definitely help in normalising the same sex relationships in India. This marriage might encourage some closet couples to come out with their relationship.
Though, we have ancient indian history acknowledges the existence of homosexuality, but same-sex relationships are still a taboo in India.
The big cities have the acceptance for the same sex relationships to some extent. India now openly celebrates same sex marriages, many celebrities also came out of the closet and there are even many Bollywood films talking about gay couples in India, identification of third gender and issues faced by people of LGBTQIA+ community.
Though the 2018 decision of legalizing the consensual homosexual intercourse by the supreme court of India definitely paved the way for a better future but we have still have a long way to go. Till then, we can celebrate love in all its forms because LOVE IS LOVE.
We wish the gay couple many years of love, laughter, mutual respect and happiness.
If you loved this story, read a story introducing Zoya Lobo, India’s first transgender photojournalist – check her inspiring journey
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