From Being A Confused Gay Kid To Celebrating Her Identity: Gurnoor Kaur Behl Of Delhi Queer Spaces Shares Her Story With HZ

The LGBTQI+ community has often been subjected to challenges and ridicule across the world. Though we are living in the 21st century, the concept of LGBTQI+ is still strange for people. We have been celebrating Pride month for 25 years, yet people with unique identities and sexual orientations are afraid to express themselves. Amidst the Pride month celebration taking place all over the world in June, we spoke to several known LGBTQI+ community members, who are trying to create a safe space for such people. Scroll down to read an exclusive interview with the founder of Delhi Queer Space (DQS) and the House of GKB, Gurnoor Kaur Behl.

Who Is Gurnoor Kaur Behl?

Gurnoor Kaur Behl is a social media expert, entrepreneur and flag bearer of the proud LGBT community. She has worked with more than 5000 brands and won a national-level award for social media. Its an organisation that builds safe, equitable and inclusive spaces for queer community in Delhi NCR.

Here is how Gurnoor introduced herself, “I call myself four shades of diversity which means I am a Woman, I am Queer, I am disabled, I am Neurodivergent.” She calls these four shades her superpower which enabled her to achieve success in her life.

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Gurnoor On Her Coming Out Journey

The concept of LGBT is still strange in Indian society which poses challenges to people who identify themselves differently. On talking about her journey on coming out Gurnoor shared, "I was 12 years old when I kissed a girl and liked it.” She had an idea aboutLGBT things, yet it was not easy for her. “I was slapped when I leaned to kiss my friend and that moment I realised my queerness did not exist,” added Gurnoor. She spoke about her queerness for the first time to her best friend. “The first person you come out to, how they react helps you to take the next step,” said Gurnoor.

How Difficult It Is To Find Love In Queer Community

While talking about finding love in thequeer community, Gurnoor said, “Finding love in the queer community is very difficult because the pool is very small.” “This is because we don’t get acceptance from society and family and thus we accept any kind of love,” added Gurnoor. The love journey was not easy for Gurnoor. We often think that same-sex relationships have equality but she was subjected to abuse and violence in one of her relationships. The kind of challenges people deal with in opposite-gender relationships is the same for queer relationships as well. She ended with a strong statement, “One’s love is the strongest emotion you can have and you should have enough love in you to get up and try again no matter what.”

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Vision Behind Delhi Queer Space

On being asked about her vision behind Delhi Queer Space Gurnoor said, “My idea is to create a space where people are chill, they lower their barriers and they connect with people. This could be any connection but in their most authentic self.”

How Does Social Media Acceptance Impact?

“Despite being open on social media about my queerness, I was scared to come out on my favourite social media LinkedIn, I was not sure how people would react as this could impact my business,” said Gurnoor. “But the responses from people and a single DM from a woman made me feel so overwhelmed and made a profound change,” added Gurnoor.

She said, “Me being one step bolder is making a difference, and if it’s making a difference to somebody, then maybe they will be one step bolder in their life.”

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How Do You Cope With Trolling?

In this world of social media, trolling has become a norm. On being asked how Gurnoor dealt with it, she said, “I am a mentally resilient person and a lot of this has to do with the fact that I am epileptic and I had to be on medications and a lot of restrictions since I was very young.”

“This mental resilience and acceptance of queerness has developed an iron version of me that has helped me deal with a lot of things,” said Gurnoor. “But even I do get impacted with this,” added Gurnoor. She ended with a fun statement, “Being a social media expert, I feel all engagement is a good engagement.”

“If more people are spreading hate, you should definitely spread love,’ said Gurnoor.

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