From being scared to speaking in front of even a small group of people so I could start my business, I had to make a lot of decisions, whether I was aware of them or not. If I could change even one thing about this journey, I wouldn’t.
Despite being from a country with a rich history and culture, there is a lack of tolerance for people of different genders and sexual orientations. Since I was a kid, I’ve had to deal with a unique set of difficulties resulting from my inherent effeminacy. From being shamed for even basic things like walking and talking to not being able to present me in front of others due to being made fun of, childhood wasn’t much easier.
School is often considered the safest place to build character but in my case, it was hell. It disturbed my whole childhood. At such a young age, when you haven’t even begun to find who you are, your peers try to place you in a box that forces you to believe that you’re different in the wrong way. It wasn’t an easy road surviving the abuse of fellow students and the graffiti of “For a nice time, call navel” on the bathroom stalls, so I took the first route out as soon as I could. I decided to drop out of school and enroll in a private SSC program despite the fact that doing so would require me to abandon the few close friends I had formed.
In college, I was able to hide some of my quirks and blend in more successfully, but the act couldn’t last for long. Knowingly or unknowingly, there came a point where I started losing my act and started behaving like I normally would, but thanks to some professors and a sturdy position in the college’s cultural association, there was no one who could make fun of me (at least not to my face.) But, till that time, there also came the courage to be able to stand up for me. Indeed, I found the experience to be very liberating as I let people know that just because I am different doesn’t mean that they can shame me or anyone like me.
After slowly but progressively educating myself on the topic, I came to a conclusion that, despite my uncertainty regarding my own gender and sexual orientation, I am not homophobic like the majority of my classmates and will not shy away from advocating for what I believe in. The farther I dove into the idea, the more I realized that gender is not a fixed binary, but rather a spectrum and that the most crucial fact of all is that it is socially created. After having this realization, I started sharing my thoughts on how “gender creates discrimination and bias” with my friends and classmates. Since I’ve always felt like an overly feminine boy, I’ve come to accept that the term “queer” best suits me because it’s an all-encompassing label This allows me to explore my gender and sexuality without fear of judgment.
After graduating from college, I started my professional journey, and believe me when I say it was quite a roller coaster. It was difficult to go from an internship at a Hindi national news channel to a subeditor position at a national newspaper. Still, in both places, I was a completely different person. After all, I had gone through quite a transformation. From being closeted about my queerness on the TV channel to be able to embrace my true self at the newspaper office, both experiences helped give me a better understanding of myself. Writing for such a prestigious website made me realize that I would like to offer more to the kids who, like me, are striving to obtain accurate and factual information. Although the team did not appear to care about my sexual orientation while I was at work, I realized this while I was writing articles for such a platform. Hence, I came up with the idea of “Closeted Stance,” an information portal that could also be a virtual space for the LGBTQIA+ community who are willing to discover themselves or learn more about themselves.
After a while of working there, I decided to take a break in order to relax and set up my portal. During the same period, numerous companies and celebrities approached me and a close friend of mine for freelance work, and as it was a source of supplemental money, we chose to accept these opportunities. We gradually concluded that we did not need to resume working on our projects and opted to embark on an entrepreneurial path. It seems exciting to start a business when you’re young and full of energy, but the challenges you face are uncountable. From being judged as too young to not being taken seriously because of our age, it was both hard and fun to take on each challenge one at a time.
My business partner is also an ally to the LGBTQIA+ community, so when we started our own company, we decided to keep “Closeted Stance” as a subsidiary of “Neo Aeon Media Solutions.” One of the first things we agreed on was that our company would have a zero-tolerance policy against discrimination and bullying, especially against the LGBTQIA+ community. We have also set up some basic rules, like asking employees what pronouns they prefer. By doing this, we are building a team that not only accepts and respects people of all genders and sexual orientations but also teaches them why it is important to have a choice. Exactly the opposite of what I had to deal with in school and work.
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