At Sahodari, we have launched the ‘Butterflies project’ to enable transgender persons to gradually become economically independent and lead a dignified life. Shasun Jain College for Women provided the training for low priced fashion jewellery and an initial loan of Rs. 6000 to exhibit our products. We were encouraged by the first successful exhibition of our products at the Duchess Club show in Chennai and now we are training members of the community is other such skills and marketing their products.

Q. Can you mention a few steps taken by the Tamil Nadu government to facilitate living as a transgender?

A. Tamil Nadu government is a pioneer in taking practical steps to help sexual minorities join mainstream society and contribute to the nation’s development. The Transgender Welfare Board established by the Tamil Nadu government in 2008 has issued food ration cards and distributed land and built houses for members of the community. The government has initiated issue of Identity cards for their use in documentation needed for availing bank loans, medical insurance etc. In an effort to improve their education, the government has provided scholarships for transgender students and has issued an order to create a third gender to facilitate their admission to Government colleges. There is a helpline for members of the community and several welfare schemes to include transgender persons in mainstream media and film industry.

Q. Is there anything you would like to tell the readers to make them realize the longings of the transgender community?

A. All we are asking is the right to a decent living without fear or favor. True, there are many in the transgender community who behave oddly, but people need to realize that transgender persons express negative behavior because on most occasions they are pushed to subhuman levels of poverty, indignity and rejection by even their closest family members.

We long for love and relationships like any other human being and want to be one with the rest of the society despite our sexual identity. If some among us seem unfriendly it maybe because we have been mercilessly bullied and exploited for no fault of ours. To a society that generally sets premium on outward appearance and money, we are asking to look at the beauty within us and help us become one among you. Please do not discriminate us as abnormal because of our ‘different’ sexuality. Given a chance we can contribute tremendously as good citizens in every sphere of life.

Most importantly, I would request parents to stand by their children when they suffer the gender identity crisis. Most children end up in streets because they are either driven out by their parents or choose to run away from an abusive, unsympathetic family that refuses to stand by a child in emotional distress.

Q. How can Medindia help in your quest to empower members of this minority transgender community and make available a decent and dignified life for them?

A. Medindia can sensitize the medical fraternity about problems faced by youth undergoing gender identity crisis and help them and their parents understand the transgender challenge. For that to happen, more medical professionals should come forward to study the transgender condition and help others understand better. Even today, most doctors prefer to steer clear of this sexual ambiguity and as a result there are very few people medically qualified to deal with the health problems peculiar to transgender persons.

Medindia can connect Support Groups in various parts of India and the world so people can network and learn more about conditions that will guide them and help improve their quality of life.

Medindia wishes Kalki Subramaniam all success in her brave struggle to establish a respectable life for sexual minorities. Her unrelenting efforts to create public awareness on the problems of transgender people and highlight the need to remove the social stigma attached to the community, will hopefully lead to more transgender persons making a positive contribution to the world while boldly stating, “We are here. We are queer.”

Source-Medindia
Thilaka Ravi/L