indica News Bureau-
Indian American father toasted to his son on his wedding day saying that though the revelation that he was gay was a lot for him to take, he still loved him the same.
Dr Vijay Mehta, attending his son Parag Mehta’s wedding to his partner Vaibhav Jain, raised him a toast and recalled the night when his son revealed that he was gay. He also spoke about his journey to accept the fact and how he had battled with his homophobia that did not allow him to accept his son’s sexuality. He also spoke about the need to be braver and more compassionate while seeking truth and spreading love.
He said that he was one of the luckiest fathers around in 1997 when his son was valedictorian, spelling bee champion, and doing a great job as a Romeo in plays.
“On 27 March, at 4.25pm on that Friday night, Parag had a very small speech – ‘Dad and Mom, I am gay. I have known it since I was 10 years old’,” he added.
Dr Mehta added Parag revealed to him that he had known it since he was 10 years old but earlier he was confused. Parag told him that he thought he will hide fact until his father’s death so he won’t be embarrassed by his son’s sexuality. He also confided that he attempted suicide during his high school days but didn’t succeed.
“Our life went from “the best of the time” to “the worst of the time”, he said. Mehta added that he did not have the guts to accept this as he was homophobic and it was a big revelation from his son and he had been clueless about it until that very day. He said that he decided to find the best “treatment centre” in the country and find the cure for it.
After the revelation, he went to a medical library and found out that there’s nothing to be cured because it is not a defect or disease. But even then it was something big and he was not prepared for it. So he said he asked himself a simple question that made everything far easier for him.
“I asked a simple question, ‘Do I love my son any less at 4.31 than I loved him at 4.25?’. And a long pause and the answer was, ‘No, I still love him the same’,” he said.
The brave acceptance of his homophobia and his growth to an accepting person who wished only happiness for his son, the video of the toast that went viral on the internet received a lot of positive reactions from twitterati.
Many people shared their own of stories and sent hear reacts to the video.
“It’s really rare for an Indian dad to be so accepting. Well done to him,” commented a user.
“My son is gay…… there I have said it. Feels a lot better to acknowledge it openly in front of the whole world. I’m lucky to have a son who is intelligent, funny and has a whole lot of friends who accept him for what he is,” commented another user.
