The same sex Indian-American couple, Parag Mehta and Vaibhav Jain took their wedding vows in 2019 and they hosted an Indian wedding in which they invited their close friends and family. A video from the wedding is widely circulating on the social media and it is winning our hearts.
In the video, the father of Parag Mehta raised a toast on his son’s gay wedding in he bashed homophobia and accepted same sex marriage.
While same sex marriage still aren’t accepted in Indian society and the homophobia leaves no one in the country, thus here’s a father who openly talked about how he ewes homophobic and had his worst time when his son came up and said that he is gay.
His father gave a poignant speech, and the honesty with which he spoke, struck a chord with many. During his speech, he admits that he used to be a homophobic person, and that when his son came out to them, he decided that he would get him ‘treated’ and ‘fixed’. But he decided to read up on it and figured that it’s not a disease.
He also admitted to being concerned about what people would think of him because of his son being openly gay, and how he’ll lead a lonely life because of the people he’ll lose, owing to his son’s sexuality. However, he told himself that the people who stick by him despite it all are truly the ones worth keeping.
Parag and Vaibhav were both raised in Jainism. Parag was raised in Texas and Vaibhav is from Delhi, and they met at the DC Pride Parade in 2012. For their wedding, they wanted to create a gender-neutral ceremony that aligned with their Jain values, and incorporated traditions of the faith in the wedding. They wanted to set a template that other couples could follow in the future as well.
The couple had two separate baraats, and found a priest who was willing to conduct the ceremony for them.
