The following post is from an anonymous contributor and was first published in the Facebook group GLBT Voices.
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This year Raya is going to be a special one for me and my partner. It’s our third Raya together as a couple. I come from a super-duper sporting, open minded and big Malay family. While my partner hails from a traditional Taiwanese Chinese family.
Me and my partner have been together for close to 4 years. We are just 12 years apart, so his age with my parents age are not too wide. 3 years ago when I introduced him to my family of 8, my mum took an instant liking to him a lot and asked him to call her “Mak Cik” instead of sister (my mum’s younger brother is younger than my partner).
Since then, on every Hari Raya eve my mum will specially cook Chicken Rendang (partner don’t eat beef) for him, and will ask me to bring it over to his place to spend time together with him on Raya eve.
Dad on the other hand shows love in a different way. My partner and I travel a lot during our free time, and dad works as a driver. There was a time when my dad made an effort to find out about our trip and our flight arrival time, then he waited for us at the airport to welcome and send us home.
Mum always reminds me that “if you love someone love doesn’t see any age, gender or race. I’m always happy for you no matter who you are or who you love.”
Well, this year Raya will definitely be a memorable one because my parents insisted that I brought my partner home to break fast together with them on the eve of Raya. My partner was initially hesitant, but since it is a request by his “in laws”, he didn’t turn them down.
Despite my parents not being educated and rich, I feel blessed to have them and I’m thankful that they accepted me and my partner! I love you Mak & Bapak!
To end it off, here’s wishing all my Muslim LGBT mates a SELAMAT HARI RAYA!!
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This is an edited version of the FB post.