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GEORGIA STRAIGHT / Vancouver’s Bright Lights Challenge the Status Quo
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Vancouver’s Bright Lights Challenge the Status Quo September 18, 2008 By Charlie Smith MORE ARTICLES / November 2008 September 2008 July 2008 |
Coming out of the closet isn’t an easy thing for some young gays and lesbians. Social worker Amar Sangha will tell you that it’s especially challenging if you’re raised in a conservative culture. Sangha, the son of Punjabi Sikh immigrants, told the Georgia Straight in a recent interview that he secretly visited a psychiatrist in Grade 8 because he wanted to change his sexual orientation. He praised the doctor for providing support—and never saying he was right or wrong—at a time when he had no one to turn to in his community. “It was very tough,” Sangha said. “I was very suicidal and very sad.” Sangha had several accomplishments growing up in Surrey and North Delta. He was on the student council; he played competitive basketball; he was selected to go on a United Nations–sponsored tour of Africa to learn about international development and environmental issues. But he couldn’t escape the taunts of some fellow students. “I was closeted, and sometimes people thought I was gay,” he said. “They would make jokes and write fag on my locker.” When he was 20, his mother asked if he was gay. Sangha said that he lied and said he was bisexual, thinking this would be a better response. But he said that once his mother discovered the truth, she was very accepting and nonjudgmental. He added that his father is coming around to the idea but one of his grandfathers thinks he has an illness that shouldn’t be discussed. This past April, Sangha, now 36, decided to do what he could to make things easier for other gay and lesbian people of Punjabi descent. He helped found a LGBT support group called Sher Vancouver, which has grown to 61 members. The group was created to prevent more tragedies along the lines of what happened to a 15-year-old California boy named Lawrence King last February. King asked another boy to be his Valentine, and the boy shot him dead. “It is my goal that a tragedy of this sort never happens in the South Asian community,” Sangha emphasized. “We want to reduce homophobia and heterosexism and increase acceptance and tolerance.” |
Punjab was divided after the partition of India in 1947, but Sher Vancouver welcomes people from both the Pakistani and Indian sides of the border. Sangha said his group includes Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, and Hindus. He also volunteers with a two-spirited aboriginal group. Sangha’s community involvement isn’t restricted to issues relating to sexual orientation. He has also lobbied Surrey and Delta councils to create wards, which he believes would lead to more accountable civic government. |
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