MADURAI: “We don’t know the scientific reason behind the birth of our transgender -children, but we strongly believe they are children of God”, said a group of parents who have accepted their transgender-children challenging the societal norms.
“Banu is a child of God. I live only for her,” said Narayammal (60) from Theni while sharing her experience at a training programme on ‘Sensitisation on Issues Affecting Transgenders’ organised by an NGO ‘Voluntary Health Services’ here on Sunday.
When relatives learnt that Narayammal and her husband Pandiyan had accepted Banu, they stopped talking with them. “My brothers even started asking me to abandon her stating she is a disgrace to family’s prestige. However, I refused to do that,” said Narayammal.
Narayammal even took ‘Thee Chatti’ (firepot) at Veerapandi Gowmariamman temple for speedy recovery of Banu after she underwent a sex surgery at Bangalore recently. However, this change in Narayammal did not happen overnight. “I have struggled for nearly 15 years and was even separated from my parents for five more years to make them accept me as I am,” told Banu (26) to Express. Whenever Banu tried to explain to her parents about her identity, they refused to acknowledge it. Instead they took her to various temples and even tried to marry her off to a relative who is a girl.