MADURAI: In a first in the country and after fighting legal battles for years, S Swapna, Madurai-based transgender, who cleared TNPSC Group II A examinations is all set to join as Assistant in the State Registration Department by the end of this month. With this, she becomes India’s first non-gazetted transgender officer under Group II.
Not only that, the legal battles fought by her resulted in three government orders for the benefit of transgenders.
Speaking to Express, 27-year-old Swapna, who refuses to identify herself as a transgender and insists that she is recognised as a woman, said, “My parents have been my biggest pillars of support. They accepted me with indiscriminating love.”
Calling academics her strength and greatest asset, Swapna said, “The struggle started in 2013, when I wanted to sit for the TNPSC Group II examinations but was denied permission because of the gender identity. It was then that I resorted to protests in Chennai and took the issue to Madras High Court with the voluntary help of two advocates who did not charge a penny.”
Swapna’s struggle bore fruit in the form of a court direction that resulted in a Government Order, which, for the first time, allowed transgenders to appear for TNPSC examinations under the ‘female’ category.
Last year, in August, she again passed the TNPSC Group IV examination and the Group II A examination.
“My ultimate aim is to be an IAS officer. I will start my fight from the scratch to achieve this ambition, much like what I did for TNPSC,” said a determined Swapna.