How can we work out our religious and cultural issues?

k im an indian girl and i can understand what u and ur friend is going thru...our parents are very loving and they can do almost anything for us...but they wont approve when it comes to their girls going out seeing men even the really nice ones. they become very unapproachable...its not just 1 person but the whole community. sometimes marrying a person of our own race is very hard for some girls...in india some of the families rather kil their daughters than to have them marry the man of their choice...most of themwith traditional views wont approve of u going out with ur fiance...and imagine how it wud be like for them if its someone from some other culture that their daughter wants to be with. i dont have the answer to ur question bec im facing a similar problem in my life but i can tell u one thing...its very hard for ur friend bec if she tells her dad that she wants to be with u then her dad might not be able to bear it....maybe iit sounds too dramatic but in some cases parents do commit suicide...why? bec the whole community wdnt let them live...they'll talk about them behind their back...some of the people wudnt want to talk to them anymore...they say horrible things and ive heard a lot of bs in my life...noone wud respect them and respect is the MOST IMP thing to us indians. they might not say much if their son finds someone from some other race except black perhaps but not their daughter...according to them she should marry the man they've found for her for her to be considered a good girl...im kind of mad at my community but i love my parents...i know they love me but ofcourse they love their status in the community too and im pretty sure they wudnt kill me physically for doing sth like that but they wont talk to me...or worse...ok i dont know where im going...i only wanted u to be able to understand something that seems to hold true in her case...she might have to make a choice and no matter what choice she mkes she'll end up with her share of unhapiness...i hope her father will get to know u and understand how u feel about each other...good luck and dont lose hope :)