I fear this maybe somewhat of a long post. I know what I have to do, but I just need to vent and possibly get some support. I appreciate there’s millions of posts like this but just getting it off my chest helps.
For some context, I’m a 24F grew up in a very conservative South Asian Hindu family where even dating is seen as a taboo. I’ve been told that I need to get an arranged marriage and have kids since I was 11.
I knew I liked women when I was 12 and came out as bisexual to my friends who were very accepting. I always knew I liked women. I love everything about them. I dated a girl in high school and I knew in my heart that this is what I wanted. But men, I constantly questioned my attraction towards them. A lot of what I convinced myself was ‘attraction’ towards men was mainly because of my family and their expectations. I was desperate to always keep them in my life. I’ve never had a boyfriend nor ever gad sex with a man.
When I was 18 I told my mum I liked women, it was quickly shut down with “you will marry a man and have kids”. I tried to convince myself I liked men. I moved to the UK for University at that point and I tried going on dates with both men and women. But I was constantly so repulsed and disgusted that it would never make it beyond the first date. I remember kissing a man, rushing home to my friend and bursting into tears because it was disgusting. I would always walk away from them because I didn’t want them touching me. And I hated it when they were interested in me.
Whereas the dates I had with women were everything and more. I wanted to be with them, to touch them, kiss them, love them. I constantly dreamt of having a girlfriend, a wife. I can only ever imagine a future with a woman.
A lot of my sexuality was tied into my culture, expectations and guilt. I love my family, my mum and dad have worked so hard to give me the life I wanted. I stand with immense privilege because I’m a doctor and I went through all of medical school without worrying about finances, they’ve always given me everything I’ve asked for and they’ve supported me through everything. So I feel like I owe them something.
I constantly questioned my sexuality but this year I realized I can’t keep torturing myself like this because that’s exactly what it felt like with men, torture. I came out as a lesbian to my closest friends.
I’m home for annual leave. My mum and I were having a very heated discussion on organ donation (weird right) because she was upset I opted into it without discussing it with her first and that she had a right over what happened to my body if I were to die.
One thing lead to another and I ended up coming out to her. I’m going to just list everything you told me point wise because it’s a lot
\- She said she wasn’t surprised and she always had a feeling. When I asked her why she didn’t talk to me about it she said “why should I make things easier for you?”
\- I asked her whether she still loves and cares about me. She said she is my mother and she’ll always love and care about me. But she can’t accept me. She says it doesn’t change how she feels about me.
\- She went into a little bit of an existential crisis where she kept repeating “what have we been working towards our entire life. She said that my poor father has high expectations for me and he’s a fool working like a donkey everyday.
\- She said that regardless, it’s my duty to get married to a man and have kids. She said marrying a woman is just not an option and is not something she can accept nor support. She said that at the end of the day I just have to “get on with things” and “do what has to be done”. She said that maybe I can potentially find a partner that will be understanding of my ‘situation’
\- She said that she doesn’t feel betrayed ‘yet’. And that it depends on what I choose to do in the future. If I do marry a woman then she’ll feel like she wasted her life away. She then proceeded to say things like “God will find a way” and that “God will show her the right path”. Disownment depends on what I do in the future as well.
\- She said that she refuses to get laughed at or looked down on by the rest of her family. I asked her whether she rather I didn’t say anything and she said it’s “God” that made me say it out loud so she could manage her expectations.
\- Finally, this conversation was shelved for today. It’s just around speciality application season for me and it’s quite a stressful time because my visa is tied to my work. So she said let’s focus on that for now and we’ll think about everything else later. She said that she won’t tell my father because he won’t be able to handle it.
There’s also so much uncertainty because I’m an F2 doctor (UK grad) and I need to get a speciality / clinical fellow spot or I’ll have to come back home next year (August 2027) which I’m afraid will cause my family to force me to get married. So I need to ace the exams.
I know what I have to do. And mentally I’ve always been prepared for potentially being disowned. I know it’s not happening now but the fact that it’s highly likely is painful. And I have so much guilt. My parents have gone above and beyond for me in so many aspects of my life and in theory I know I haven’t done anything wrong but I feel like I betrayed them and it hurts so much.