A rainbow has gone out of our lives

Hemal Ashar hemal@ mid- day. com TO call Wendell Rodricks the poster boy of the queer cause, would be to trivialise in some way his mammoth contribution to the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender ( LGBT) community.

I remember reading about him where he simply said, u201c I am married to the man I love,u201d that is the life I and many gay men wanted.

We used to often WhatsApp in Konkani. I remember he would send his car to pick me up from the station or the airport when I would go to Goa.

That explained the gamut of reactions as one of shock or still too numb to process.

Equal rights activist Harish Iyer actually shouted in disbelief, u2018 what, whatu2019 on the phone, as he was told that Wendell is no more. Iyer said, u201c Wendell was a lighthouse of courage.

At a time when people spoke in whispers, he was out, loud and proud. Recently, we saw different facets of his personality - Wendell, as an animal lover or Wendell, the activist who spoke about Goa- centric issues. He leaves behind footprints in the sands of Goa.u201d A rainbow has gone out of our lives Wendell Rodricksu2019s succinct statement: u2018 I married the man I lovedu2019 summed up his comfort level with who he was and made him an inspiration for the queer community u2018 Wendell was a lighthouse of courage. At a time when people spoke in whispers, he was out, loud and proud. He leaves behind footprints in the sands of Goa u00a9 u2019 Harish Iyer, Equal rights activist Wendell Rodricks with husband Jerome Marrel

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