HYDERABAD: Oscillating on the extremes of visibility and invisibility, transgender persons are subjected to physical abuse and systemic violence. Activists put it down to a lack of sensitisation and awareness. CE speaks to some members of the community sharing their thoughts on the same
Fraught with inequalities, human life seems to be on edge, constantly being under threat more from manmade conditions than natural ones. The idea of a spectrum seethes in, with those in the “mainstream” enjoying more privileges in certain domains of life than others. Then there is an idea of vulnerability, what factors make someone more vulnerable than others.
Recently, with the debate on marriage equality, sparked by the Supreme Court’s hearings of cases demanding the legalisation of same-sex marriage, how these rights extend to the entire spectrum of the LGBTQAI+ communities came into light.
The ruling is yet to come but it highlights the lived experiences of some of the most marginalised members of the society.
“People marginalised on grounds of a certain category are not necessarily sensitized to deal with other marginalisations. For example, a transgender person who is discriminated against on the grounds of gender and also caste if they belong to lower caste background, may not necessarily be aware of the challenges that people with disability face or somebody who’s been through an acid attack or on grounds of their health condition,” says Vyjayanti Vasanta Mogli, Transgender Rights Activist and founder of Telangana Hijra Intersex Transgender Samiti.
When asked what can be done to ensure the safety of transpersons, she said, “First of all, stop tossing them around like a football or footwear. When it comes to physical violence, transgender persons are subjected to abuse from the police, law enforcement agencies, from gundas and from the ‘mainstream society’. They have to face mob vigilantism. A lot of violence happens on trains, at railway stations and at traffic signals as these are their usual places of work. There are also instances of intra-community violence as well.”
She says that the only available modes of livelihood that transgender persons have is sex work, begging and traditional socio-religious practices that allow them to get food as a charity on auspicious events and festivals.
“There is no sustainable, fixed source of income. Transpersons, particularly those in the sociocultural communities like Hijra, Kinnar, Mangalamukhi, Jogappa, Jogata, Aravani, Shivashakti and many others, get alms as daan-dakshina on religious and auspicious occasions which do not happen on a daily or monthly basis,” she said.
Emphasising the fact that, unlike cis-gender persons, transgender persons are not able to gel into mainstream society as their bodies make them highly visible. “As bodies are genetically male, broad shoulders and jaws cannot go unnoticed, no matter how much we feminise ourselves. People can know transgender persons at one glance,” she said.
While lack of social acceptance makes them vulnerable on one hand, on the other, systemic violence caused by biased mindsets and lack of awareness translates into a lack of credible job opportunities that could give them a life of dignity.
“As transgenders are picked up by the police very easily, they go through custodial violence and then they are put into Open prisons where they are subjected to sexual abuse, which is very common in prisons in India and around the world. Recently, the Supreme Court issued directions to both Centre and State governments to treat sex workers with dignity but there’s a lot of police sensitisation that has to happen for persons who are in these livelihoods. Law enforcement persons, lawyers, judges, and courts need to be trained. Just about a few months ago, the Chief Justice of India inaugurated the judges’ training manual on sensitisation of judges towards issues of the LGBT communities and persons. It is also available on the website of the apex court. A lot more needs to be done at the Centre, State and local level,” she said.
The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 directs for setting up of a protection cell under the Director-General of Police. “In Telangana, a cell has been set up under the Women Protection Wing, overseen by Additional Director of Police, Shikha Goyal. They have begun sensitisation of station house officers on Zoom calls. You know how Zoom calls are. How can you ensure that they are listening? It’s not like physical training,” she said.
Adding that the population of transpersons is highly under-enumerated, she said that still there is a population of 69,000 transpersons in Telangana by official numbers. The economic rehabilitation scheme started by the State government which covers only around 10-20 members in each district, is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to welfare.
“And then there aren’t as many transpersons in government and private jobs. You can still find gay or lesbian men and women in private companies like Google, Accenture, Infosys, etc but you cannot find transgender persons in any of the major sectors. Except for a handful of them, such as Kanmani Ray, Sathyasri Sharmila and Swati Bidhan Baruah, there aren’t many transgender lawyers,” she said, adding that it is why we have been fighting for horizontal gender-based reservations, to secure our livelihoods.
Last year, Osmania General Hospital appointed two transgender persons as medical officers.
Shedding light on the discrimination transgender persons have to go through in order to seek treatment, Dr Ruth John Paul and Dr Prachi Rathod said that sensitisation of the medical fraternity is the foremost need of the hour. “Sensitisation of medical and health professionals is required as they don’t want what transpersons want,” said Dr Ruth John Paul.
A significant challenge is the lack of access to gender-affirming healthcare. Gender-affirming medical procedures such as hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and gender reassignment surgeries (GRS) are not widely available in India. Even when these procedures are available, they can be expensive and inaccessible to many trans individuals, who may lack the financial resources or legal documentation required to access healthcare services. “The only path ahead is through unlearning, relearning and even apologising unconditionally wherever required,” concluded Vyjayanti.