Once I had an opportunity to attend a Transgender Mela, which allowed me a chance to interact with some of the most amazing personalities of today’s India. There were cooks, beauticians, designers, dancers and other professionals who had embraced their queer sexuality and achieved their professional goals.
In India’s mythological history, transgenders were assigned a higher role than their status today. Arjun adopted the position of the palace eunuch in the Pandava’s last year of banishment. A eunuch was always found in the queen’s harem to protect them. It is a travesty of history that they have been reduced to the marginal today.
But, times are changing. And legal measures are helping to reclaim them an equal status. The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill 2016 is expected to bring social, educational and economic empowerment to the transgender community.
Yet, very few states like the rare case of Aravanis in Tamil Nadu cater to the social welfare benefits of the transgenders. Kerala has been progressive with its athletic meet, government jobs and beauty contest for the transgenders.
Riya Sarkar became the first transgender to preside over a polling booth in 2016. Transgenders are being allowed to hold government posts, get regular jobs, give competitive exams. The roads are slowly opening for them to join the mainstream.
The celebrated Right to Privacy judgement by the Supreme Court is a great boost, as it questions the legitimacy of Section 377. It paves the way to abolish the draconian and colonial law against queer orientations.
These pictures have been taken at the Transgender Mela held in Mumbai. It was an effort by the transgender themselves to show that familiarity is a possible route to remove stigma against them. We need to acknowledge that biological differences are not a rational for social discrimination. Being queer is not a disease that requires a cure, it can be a lifestyle choice like any other, and needs to be respected for what it is.
