New Delhi: Dimple Mithilesh Chaudhary is a queer activist, photographer, and biker who identifies herself as gay and came out at the age of 20. She was born in a conservative Jaat family and had to struggle a lot to pave a path for herself.
In a conversation with CitySpidey, Dimple shared, "I was born as a girl, however, I was never into 'girly' things and that confused me a lot as a kid. I did what I felt like, I used to wear my brother's clothes and I remember getting beaten up for that."
She added, "My mother thought that I was being childish. I didn't like wearing frocks at all, I liked to spend my whole day playing in the sun with the boys of my locality. I was into cricket and gilli-danda while other girls used to play with dolls. I used to get beaten up by my mother every day, but my escape was running away from mom and playing with boys. My childhood passed like this."
Further, she added, "When I was growing up, I started feeling hormonal changes in my body. I started getting my periods, my school forced me to wear salwar-kurta as uniform. I liked playing with boys but I was attracted to girls."
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Dimple worked in the media industry for six years and recalled eating alone as nobody wanted to sit with her. While talking about it, she shared, "We all forget there are things more important than gender, like humanity. I quit the job because of discrimination, I started doing photography, and one day, I got an opportunity from Amsterdam and World Trade Centre. They wanted to do an exhibition of my photographs and my journey escalated after that. I also got opportunities from Australia, Dubai, and in Delhi also"
Coming out is one of the most important moments of the lives of anyone who is a queer. Dimple shared her coming out moment and said, "I remember the day when I come out as a gay in front of my mother. It was a very emotional moment. I tried every possible way to make my mother understand my sexuality. Tears were rolling down my face. At last, I said that I will get my breasts removed through surgery."
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She concluded, "But it's well said, parents truly understand us when the whole world is judging you. My parents happily accepted my sexuality and loved me all the same. If you are a part of LGBTQIA+ community, I would suggest you to take your time to come out in front of your family and your friends. You can use social media to cheer yourself up, there are so many speakers to listen to, people have shared their stories. Make sure you come out when you feel you're ready."
