Our secret South Asian wedding faced backlash – but the LGBTQ+ community drowned out the haters
Christy and Christina are a South Asian lesbian couple who eloped in June. Through their TikTok account, they talk about the backlash their wedding faced and why South Asian and LGBTQ+ representation is so important.
The couple overcame all the odds of to ensure their wedding went ahead. But, as a result, they faced a backlash from their own community. Christina told PinkNews that after they first posted a video of the event, a lot South Asian people were “speaking down on it” from a religious standpoint.
But the LGBTQ+ community responded with positivity, “flooding out the negativity”, sharing how they had been inspired by it. Christy said: “You can truly feel the love radiating through it.”
The couple met on Tinder in 2018 with neither family knowing about their queer identities, meaning they were forced to pretend to be just friends.
Christine said she always introduced Christy to her Indian family as a friend. It wasn’t until later that she was able to come out to them and reveal the true nature of their relationship.
“In Indian culture, it’s definitely taboo,” she said of being gay.
Christy said she grew up seeing LGBTQ+ people on gameshows and doesn’t think lesbians get as much respect as gay men.
The pair eloped to “just be selfish,” she added. They chose to have a traditional wedding to honour Christina’s culture.
Queer South Asians have previously told PinkNews about the LGBTQ+ influences that shaped them, with Furgie, a gay Pakistani Muslim, saying the Queer Eye reboot was “mind-blowingly” awesome.
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