Strength TogetHER 13- Session 2

June 27,2021.

"THERE IS NOTHING WRONG IN BEING YOURSELF "

Pride month is celebrated as a promotion of equality, self acceptance and dignity of the queer people. So on the occasion of pride month on 27th June, we had our second session having a topic as"LOUD AND PROUD", where we were gonna talk about LGBTQ+. The session was scheduled at  around 4 in the evening having 20+ participants.

Our moderator was Miss.Angel Lama. Angel lama is a trans activist. She has won Miss pink Nepal 2018 and also represented Nepal in Miss International Queen 2019. She was also part of one of the first LGBTQIA+ groups to be champions throughout the  world in “Dance for life”. We also had Anmol as our special guest for the session.

Our session started with a short introduction about  Strength togetHER by Prastuti Bhattarai. Then she welcomed Angel Lama and Anmol who is one of the members of LGBTQIA+ community. Anmol was one of the speakers for the session.We had a total of 5 speakers. Without any further delay our cohort coordinator started calling the speakers to share their experiences.


Our first speaker talked about how people treat LGBTQIA+ members differently. Society has to some extent been treating them equally but seeing them very differently. She talked about how people have set straight people as  NORMAL in society rather than seeing them as an individual. 


Our second speaker introduced herself as a bisexual and described the process that it was not easy finding herself. She shared that she was first attracted to a girl when she was in class 7. She shared the journey of finding herself and accepting it publicly, where there were different kinds of opinions. Anmol added that she was really happy how people are now being courageous and accepting themselves bravely . 


Our third speaker talked about the toxic masculinity concept of the society. She shared her friend's experience about her friend being a victim of toxic masculinity. 


Our fourth speaker talked about the comprehensive sex education should be included in the schooling level. She also mentioned how in Christianity religion considers being a queer as a sin and people are still believing and following it. 


After hearing all the stories from the participants, Angel Lama gave her suggestions to all the participants. 

  • Rather than differentiating ourselves but validating ourselves. 

  • An individual is confused about gender identity and having no topic about LGBTQIA+. It mostly happens in the early teens where you are very curious about everything. This very topic is one of the most important topics in the school level.

  • People have easily generalized masculinity and consider them as a common thing. 

  • How people are following the religion and due to which it is having a great impact on queer people leading them to different kinds of mental health issues.  It was our pleasure to have the participation of  Angel and Anmol in our session. The session was very fruitful. 

Written by : Sambriddi Karki (Cohort Coordinator)

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