Come out, one step at time

The quest for LGBTQ rights and freedom may be a long and arduous one. But for many within the LGBTQ community, the hardest fought battle is often the one within them to ‘come out of the closet’ and embrace their sexuality. So when filmmaker Ashish Sawhny first came up with the idea for his web-based video series #ComingOut, the primary message that he wanted to spread was very simple — “Once you’re out, everything only gets easier.”

The six-part series (each for one colour of the LGBTQ rainbow flag) has gained tremendous traction online both here and abroad, with many, including big names such as Hollywood actor Ashton Kutcher, sharing it widely. However, Ashish’s target audience is a very specific subset — the thousands of confused youngsters who are still terrified of coming out. “My basic intention was to ‘empower’ these youngsters more than anything. And the best way to do that I thought was to bring to them inspiring stories from within the community,” says Ashish, who is gearing up to release the last part of the series — the tale of a lesbian couple.

Telling us how he conceptualised the series, Ashish says, “This is a concept that I felt was something that I ‘had’ to do, because coming out is the most difficult part for many and that was my own experience as well. And the way I wanted to do this was to make sure I cover as wide a spectrum as possible. So it wasn’t just the urban set up that I wanted to focus on. I went around the country and dug out stories from various corners, such as Justine, who is a bisexual girl from Mumbai and Chanchal, who is a trans-person from Jabalpur. And I wanted it to a six part series to signify each colour of the LGBTQ rainbow flag and each story I’ve presented is as distinct as the colours themselves.”

25-year-old fashion designer Justine, whose story was the first that Ashish released has been on cloud nine for the past few days — thanks to the response that she’s gotten for it. While she reveals that she has always been open about her sexuality, Justine tells us why she thought it was important to tell her story and says, “Compared to the others, my story was more of a positive one and I wanted to tell people that it (coming out) is not always a hard thing and that it can also be a beautiful experience.”

While Ashish’s series is not the first to explore the online medium as a platform to empower the LGBTQ community, it has certainly been one of the more popular of such efforts. Telling us about what he feels is the reason as to why his series has worked so well, Ashish says, “I think it is because it is very intense and personal. Many people who have reached out to me after seeing have told me that they’ve been touched by the honesty with which it has been portrayed.” About the response it has garnered, he says, “It has been absolutely amazing — the number of personal emails that people across the spectrum are sending are really heart-warming.” But more than Ashish, the one who’s over the moon about the response is Justine, whose video was shared online by Hollywood heartthrob Ashton Kutcher.

She tells us how she feels about the response and says, “I love him and it was really one of the most amazing feelings. It wasn’t that I felt liberated because I have always been quite open, but I just feel really happy about having done this.”

While the six-part series will soon be over, Ashish says he is hopeful of taking his work further ahead. “101India, the portal with whom we’ve done this series has been very supportive of this idea and I don’t see a reason why we can’t do more such series. So I am sure that there will be more to look forward to soon.

While the series has gained support from all across the spectrum, many from within the LGBTQ community have also lauded it as a step in the right direction. LGBT icon and former Mr. Gay India, Sushant Divgikar, who’s worked on a similar initiative before, tells us, “There are several things that we really need to talk about if we are to battle issues such as homophobia. And such open and honest content is surely a step in the right direction. Both Ashish and 101India have constantly been spreading the dialogue for the LGBTQ community and this helps in making society understand the issue better. What I like the most about this series is that it covers a wide and distinct spectrum. Even among gay people there are several who are prejudiced towards transgendsers. And although I don’t believe that we can take homophobia out of someone through just videos, the primary intention here is to empower youngsters and that is something that this effort will accomplish.”