“There will be haters, there will be doubters, there will be nonbelievers, and then there will be you, proving them wrong.”
Dear “educated” society,
You have seen me on traffic stops,railways and buses,celebrating, dancing and singing on the day you were born or on your naming ceremony. But still you ignore me, you hate me, you deny my existence. You never accept me in your so-called community.Never gave me my rights which I deserved. Yes, I’m talking about transgenders like me, which comes under the LGBT community.
You still have doubt about my gender, right? Whether I m a male or female or neither? . I will tell you what I’m in simple words, may be you will understand. My soul is trapped in a body which is of opposite gender,more scientifically all I could say is I was born a normal boy or girl as you are, but I was not able to accept that role, I was more comfortable with the other gender. Thus, people call me transgender. I have many names, people call me “kinnar,hijras, chakkas, aruvani” and what not, but none call me a human. Even my parents never accepted me as a child. Was it really my fault?
I m as much as human as you are, I also have feelings just like you. I also want the education, want to work, have a family and live a happy life just like you. But life was always biased with us, these social restrictions, orthodox mentality never gave me enough space in this community to breath. I was pushed into poverty, just because you thought that I was not worth employment. I was forced to live in slums in which none of you have ever visited even once, just because my family never accepted me. The conditions were so bad that we were even denied health services. We were restricted to public spaces, because you thought it will make you feel uneasy. Politics and decision-making right have been out of reach for us. And what to talk about politics, we were not given civil right until now. We were sexually harassed and abused in buses and trains, even there were cases in which we were thrown out of moving trains.Even police refuse to file cases for us, and what to say about media, “The fourth pillar of democracy”, Have you ever heard any of the cases about the problems we face in daily lives on the news channel, no, a girl winking for a boy is far more important than our lives right? Justice was never served on our plates. Just to meet our livelihood, we have to work as sex workers. Because of this depressed, rejected life, many like me have attempted suicide.
After all this, if you still call yourself a human, then I want to ask you, “Where have you sold your morality?”
We have dreams just like you, we just want what we deserve. Don’t judge us on basis of dress or sex. Don’t encage us inside the walls of your inherited unrefined ideologies. Because even though you curse us, we always give you blessings so that you and your family can happily live and prosper.
All we want from you,is a normal humane treatment. Accept us as a part of your community. Show a little empathy towards us. It will really be helpful in standing up for our fight for social justice.
With love,
an unaccepted transgender
Even though China and India are on top of the world population chart, but according to the census reports, U.S and Brazil are the countries with highest number of transgenders, followed by Philippines and Thailand. According to an estimate, India has 2 million transgenders. Do you know one thing which is better in these countries w.r.t India is that the condition of transgender. They are more free and socially accepted in those countries than India.
In epic Ramayana, which is the sacred book of Hindus, it was written that when Lord Ram went to forest upon being banished from his kingdom for 14 years, asks all the ‘men and women’ to stop following him and return to the city. But as the kinnars, alone do not feel bound by this direction, they decided to stay with him. Impressed with the undivided devotion, Lord Ram gave them power to confer blessings on auspicious occasions like childbirth and marriage in which, it is believed to set stage for the custom of ‘badhai ’by kinnars, in which they sing, dance and shower their blessing.
So even in those time, if people accepted them as people of blessings, then why do we fail to even to treat them as a human? In constitution it is written that each and everyone is equal of law in India.
There are various instances when these people have stepped out of their comfort zone, and irrespective of the various hurdles in their path,they have achieved a great deal and became an idol for other transgenders.
Rudrani Chhetri,who is a Delhi based transgender activist and head of the MITR Trust, has opened a modelling agency for transgenders. In an interview with TOI, she asked,“Do transgenders not have the right to flaunt their beauty?”. As the traditional agencies never accepted this idea, she worked on this concept with crowdfunding, and donations.
Kalki Subramaniam is an activist and author, writer and poet, who established a Sahodari Foundation that works for the empowerment of transgenders in India. She also fights against the discrimination against transgender.
Padmini Prakashis India’s First transgender television anchor with prime time show on Indian TV channel.
Madhu Kinnar, won the mayoral elections last year in Raigarh, Chhattisgarh as an independent candidate. She won by 4,537 votes.
Joyita Mondal became the first transgender judge in India.
Even the supreme court has recognized transgenders as a third gender, in a landmark ruling. It ordered the government to provide them with quotas in jobs and education in line with other minorities, as well as key amenities.
“It is the right of every human being to choose their gender.”
The following statements were taken from BBC news:
"Recognition of transgenders as a third gender is not a social or medical issue but a human rights issue,"Justice KS Radhakrishnan, who headed the two-judge Supreme Court bench, said in his ruling on Tuesday.
"Transgenders are also citizens of India"and they must be "provided equal opportunity to grow", the court said.
"The spirit of the Constitution is to provide equal opportunity to every citizen to grow and attain their potential,irrespective of caste, religion or gender."
The judges asked the government to treat them inline with other minorities officially categorized as "socially and economically backward", to enable them to get quotas in jobs and education.
There are still many cases of sexual harassment, violence and what not, that comes in the court daily. They say that “Justice delayed is justice denied”,then why proceedings of these cases are so slow that file after file pile up and hardly anyone hear their voice.
Their journey till now was too difficult, but still the LGBT community is in a constant battle, as they have to fight all the evils of society like oppression, abuse, and discrimination, whether it’s their own family or friends or anyone. And as there is no acceptance of their virtue,they are ostracized from the society and also ridiculed
Despite the fact, that our society disown them, they are still working hard to improve their condition in every aspect of life, and who are we to judge them , everyone deserves the right to make their lives better.Just because we can’t help them, so better don’t be an obstacle in their path.
So, if you still think that conditions that prevailed before still exist, then you are wrong my friend. Although they still face many difficulties, but as it is rightly said, “This too shall pass.”, the mindsets of the people are changing slowly but gradually, and it is on us to contribute a little effort from our side so that they can too have a life without any obligations.
You might be a big fan of G.O.T or friends, but still if you get time from your hectic schedule, watch this documentary named “Aaina” (watch me).Maybe a little change will occur in your attitude towards them.
