On Saturday, March 27th 1999, Dr Vijay Mehta’s world turned upside down. His family had just attended their son, Parag’s school award ceremonies all day. Parag had won numerous awards for his academic and extracurricular achievements.
Dr Mehta and his wife, Vinoo Mehta, were extremely proud of their son and had received compliments from one and all at the ceremony. But when they came home, Parag sat them down and told them something that changed their lives forever.
“I remember it was 4.25 pm when he sat us down,” recollects Dr Mehta.
“Mum, Dad - I’m gay. I have known it since I was ten, but I was in denial for a long time. I thought I would not tell you about it, but I cannot hide it from you anymore”, said Parag.
He went on to mention that he was attending counselling sessions to come to terms with his sexuality and in one of the group sessions, one of the girls attending was from their community. Parag feared that his parents would get to know about him any day now and he wanted to be the one to tell his parents.
Another heartbreaking revelation Parag made was that he had attempted to take his own life a couple of times in high school out of shame and guilt.
Parag and Vaibhav Source: Supplied
Dr Mehta and his wife were taken aback. To learn that their child had kept a part of himself from them for so long and that he had tried to take his own life a few times in an attempt to escape from facing a reality, hit them hard.
Parag’s speech lasted a total of three and a half minutes. Dr Mehta got up at once and hugged his son.
He said, I’m sorry you had to do this. You were, are and always will be our hero.
Shortly after, Dr Mehta left to attend another community event. There still were a lot of misconceptions about homosexuality in society. As he left the house, Dr Mehta got thinking. He thought that his son has a medical condition and being a doctor himself, he can help his son get rid of it.
“A few days later I went to a library in search of a medical book explaining homosexuality and how to cure it. But when I actually opened a book and read it, all my misunderstandings were cleared,” Dr Mehta says.
“I understood that I was the one who needed to get rid of my misconceptions. The American Psychological Association had published studies decades ago that homosexuality is not a disease.”
Parag’s parents finally accepted him for who he was and apologised for their ignorance. But Dr Mehta also wanted his friends and family to accept Parag. In order to do that, he did something wonderful.
“I wrote a letter to my closest friends and family members. I talked about the rollercoaster of emotions that we experienced on the 27th of March. And how we reflected on it today and realised that we didn’t love our son any less at 4.30 pm, after he was done with his speech than at 4.25 pm, when he sat us down.”
A letter Dr Mehta wrote to his closest friends Source: Supplied
Dr Mehta proudly recollects that most of his friends and family called them right away after receiving the letter and expressed their love for Parag and the entire family.
Parag and his parents were overjoyed. They considered themselves lucky to have such a loving and accepting family.
A letter Dr Mehta wrote to his closest friends. Source: Supplied
And years later, Parag found love in Vaibhav.
Vaibhav saw Parag dancing at the Parade. Few days later, they got chatting on social media and started dating.
After convincing Vaibhav’s parents and waiting for years for everyone’s approval, Parag and Vaibhav finally got married last year in March.
It was a unique Indian wedding with two grooms and two kind-hearted families who came together to celebrate their sons and their union.
