For the third consecutive year, transgender women will compete for the crown at the Miss Trans Queen India 2019, at Janakpuri Dilli Haat tomorrow.
The annual beauty contest is Reena Rai’s labour of love after having fought against all odds to give trans women their due respect and dignity in society. Rai feels she was chosen by god to work for transgenders.
“How else can I explain my sudden friendship with a Vippy (born as Vipin) who came into my life at a time when I had lost my dear friend, Deepa and was in depression?” she asks.
Rai met Vippy around five-six years ago at a beauty parlour she used to frequent. “We had developed a sort of friendship but I lost touch with him after I stopped going to the parlour.
When I met him again in 2016, I was going through a low phase due to Deepa’s death,” she adds. It was Vippy who provided Rai helped her get out of depression.
For Rai, this renewed friendship opened new doors of knowledge about transgenders and the LGBTQI community, of which, till that point, she had no inkling of.
“When I got to know about what all this community goes through due to lack of acceptance by society, it pained me a lot.” Also, Deepa’s sudden passing away made Rai question life.
“As I pondered over it, I realised I didn’t want to go away like that. I wanted to do something worthwhile. I believe when you seek answers, god shows you the way,” she says. So it happened with her. Rai decided to hold a beauty pageant for transwomen.
But given societal antagonism, no one wanted to associate with it. “I approached several corporates, but all told me they would pitch in if I did it for ‘normal’ girls.”
Undeterred, Rai went ahead with the show. “My husband financed it but he had to sell his business and take up a job. The best takeaway was the show becoming a huge hit,” she adds.
Educate and sensitise
It’s been five years since the NALSA verdict, yet nothing much has changed at ground level, says Rai. Holding the event even in its third year has been not easy, as she’s still spending from her pocket. But Rai has no plans to give up.
“The event is not only a platform for transgender women to showcase their talent but also to create awareness on their issues and concerns,” she says, pointing out that the public mindset need to change.
She admits that a beauty pageant isn’t enough. Youngsters need to be educated and sensitised. That is why she set up the Deepa Ardhnarishwar Empowerment Foundation, through which she conducts gender sensitisation workshops in schools and colleges.
“We need to tap children at the right age so that they don’t grow up with prejudices. Transgenders are born to heterosexual parents so why discriminate against them?” questions Rai.
“Whenever I go for a workshop, I take my rainbow family along so that they can talk about their experiences. I begin my talk addressing mothers as I feel no one can ridicule a transgender child if a woman stands by them. The sad part is mothers themselves throw out their kids. Most transgenders are thrown out of homes at a young age,” laments Rai, recalling a case where a woman told her 13-year-old transgender to move out since she was ashamed of her. “And this is not a one-off case.
My earnest request to all is to not discriminate against transgenders. There is nothing they cannot achieve, if given proper training and education,” says Rai, who has also approached various ministries for giving equal opportunities to them.
Going places
A few winners of Miss Trans Queen India are reaching for the skies.
Naaz Joshi won Miss World Diversity and represented India in the international pageant for three consecutive years (2017, 2018 & 2019).
Veena Sendre was placed in eighth in Miss International Queen 2019.
Nitasha Biswas who made her small screen debut with Dating In The Dark.
Navya Singh walked the ramp for designer Wendall Rodricks for Times Fashion Week in Bengaluru this year and is also coming in a TV serial.