COIMBATORE: “Hello, who are you going to call today?” reads the banner outside a makeshift PCO in Chennai during the Rainbow Self Respect Pride March in 2025. One by one, participants step inside, make calls they may have postponed for years: to parents, close friends, and siblings. On the other end of the line is a declaration of survival and joy — I am happy, I am free. This is how the LGBTQIA+ community feels at Nirangal Charitable Trust, an organisation that provides not just shelter but a place of dignity, safety, and belonging to the queer people in Coimbatore. The founder of the trust is TD Sivakumar, a transgender activist.
School is considered to be a haven for children. For many, it is their second home, where they study, make friends, and discover themselves. While most of us remember our school days as memorable, the 44-year-old Chennai-based LGBTQIA+ community activist (Sivakumar) remembers it as the darkest period in their life. “Even my close friends had bullied and harassed me when my activities changed due to my hormonal changes,” said Sivakumar.
After experiencing similar harassment in the neighbourhood as well as in the workplace, they (Sivakumar prefers the pronouns they/them) decided to help and support LGBTQIA+ individuals and formed Nirangal Charitable Trust in 2014, which has been fighting for the rights of LGBTQIA+ communities for over a decade in Tamil Nadu.
“My main goal was to ensure that no one goes through the challenges that I had faced in my childhood. Most of the LGBTQIA+ individuals are ostracised from their families and are extremely vulnerable. Many community members, as well as their family members and friends, have contacted me because they felt suicidal at one point in their lives, but I helped them overcome that, and now they are leading a good life,” Sivakumar proudly admits.
The organisation based in Chennai is creating awareness among students, counsellors, legal professionals, and media professionals to create safer spaces in education, health, and workplaces for LGBTQIA+ communities across the state. Sivakumar has facilitated exhibitions of artworks of the LGBTQIA+ artistic community, especially in Coimbatore. “I don’t look at this as a profession. I want to help these people, and my family members are extending support in many ways. That’s why I can dedicate myself to the activities to promote the welfare of the LGBTQIA+ community,” said Sivakumar.
The activist is happy after getting a legal order in favour of the LGBTQIA+ community from the Madras HC that directs the Tamil Nadu government to declare name and gender changes to male, female, or transgender in the official gazette without insisting on the production of a medical certificate or the third gender identity card. Another victory in the legal battle is that the production of a Sex Reassignment Surgery Certificate would not be necessary under the Passport Rules 1980, even for a change of gender from female to male or vice versa.
Speaking about the state government’s initiative, Sivakumar said, “The state government extended support to the transgender community by providing cash assistance during the pandemic along with issuing ration cards, pensions for transgender people over 40 years, free housing, cash assistance for surgery, and medical transition.”
“The union and state governments should join hands, as community members are facing a lot of challenges in day-to-day affairs, and they are doing their best to overcome them. However, the government and the people should understand different identities and not judge or look down upon other genders and sexual identities. Further, the social issues can be addressed only if all parents accept their children, including those who identify as LGBTQIA+,” he adds.
From a childhood marked by daunting memories to building Nirangal Charitable Trust into a refuge of safety, dignity, and hope, Sivakumar has moved on this path with a vision of collective healing for the community.
(Edited by Srestha Choudhury)