Gay couple to tie knot, the ‘first’ in Telangana

Hyderabad: Telangana is all set to have its first openly gay married couple, with two bold young men coming out with their intentions to get hitched. Supriyo and Abhay, who are planning to make their eight-year-old relationship official by getting married in December, are like any other couple about to get married — excited and full of plans.

“It all started eight years ago. I met him through the dating app ‘Planet Romeo’. We had a proper conversation for an hour and we started liking each other. We were in a live-in relationship for a while, understood each other better and now decided to get married,” says Supriyo.

“With God’s grace, we have understanding parents who accepted our relationship. Being Indian parents, they didn’t say yes at the start, but they didn’t disapprove either. It took us time to make them understand. I should thank my mother who is a support and stood by me like a pillar,” says Supriyo, a lecturer with a hotel management school.

The two weren’t initially out in front of everyone. It took years to make people understand, they say. “I was bullied in school. Those were sleepless nights. But we gradually managed to make people understand that we are just like them and that we have our own choice of choosing our partners,” remembers Supriyo, who along with Abhay says they are the first LGBTQ+ couple to get married in Telangana. “Though there are a lot of people who got married in other States, we are the first one to get married in Telangana,” they say.

Abhay, who works in the software development industry is all excited about the wedding. “Parents and society at large should stop assuming people are straight,” says Abhay, who came out to his parents at the age of 17. The Hyderabad Pride Walk in 2014 changed his life, says Supriyo, who took part in the event, after which he was featured in the media, which he says brought more clarity for many others with more people beginning to accept them.

“I’m Bengali and he is a Punjabi. We will have everything as in regular marriages, from Haldi ceremony to a brunch party and exchanging of rings. My parents have already started shopping and all are excited about our wedding,” Supriyo adds.

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