Shoulder-to-shoulder to break the stereotypes

When Ashwini was in Class IX in Kolar district, Karnataka, she abandoned her studies. Unable to take the bullying and taunts regarding her appearance and sexuality by teachers and classmates, Ashwini dropped out of school. She then left home and sought refuge with the Hijra community (people who adopt a gender role that is neither male nor female) in Bengaluru.

For the next 10 years Ashwini survived by begging and sex work. One day, she chanced to hear about a job opportunity in an NGO to raise awareness on HIV and AIDS among vulnerable communities like transgenders and Hijras.

Ashwini decided she would apply. Little did she know that this was going to change her life.

Her selection as a community mobiliser for the Pehchaan project, an HIV intervention programme implemented by India HIV/AIDS Alliance, the not-for-profit working to empower the LGBTQI community, gave her the opportunity to give up begging and sex work. It also gave Ashwini enough confidence to return to Kolar some years later to work for her community.

Here, under the NGO’s Wajood programme, she worked to enhance access of the transgender and Hijra community to sexual healthcare and improve their linkages to government programmes. Karnataka has 7,000 transgenders, most of whom have no access to jobs, education or health facilities, according to Sangama, a Bengaluru-based voluntary organisation working for sexual minorities.

Even while Ashwini worked as a community mobiliser, she joined a local weekly newspaper called Hi Kolar , becoming their first transgender reporter.

But all this wouldn’t have been possible without the support she received from her peers and India HIV/AIDS Alliance in overturning stereotypes of transgender people.

Hijra Habba, the annual gathering of the transgenders organised by India HIV/AIDS Alliance, has not only helped people like Ashwini break barriers and myths regarding the community but it has also facilitated greater awareness and acceptance of the community. Its strategy of holding open public discussions in places like popular shopping malls has helped Hijra Habba demystify transgender issues and reach out to the general public.

Growing confidence

Initially begun as part of the Pehchaan intervention, the Hijra Habba has progressed from having only 60 transgender participants in 2010 to over 400 in 2018. “This indicates the growing confidence of the community in coming out and speaking about themselves.. The theme of this year’s Hijra Habba is ‘Born This Way’. It asserts the transgender identity that we are born the way we are. The historic Supreme Court judgment on Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code made this clear that we have to be accepted for how we are. It is a big boost for our cause,” said Sonal Mehta, Chief Executive, India HIV/AIDS Alliance.

This judgment is expected to reduce the stigma and fear that prevents the transgender community from coming out. Only about five million came forward to reveal their identity (although their number is much higher) when the community was enumerated for the first time during the 2014 census.

Mehta said the verdict regarding certain provisions of Section 377 was the first step in ensuring an equal society where all diversities were accepted. “After all, we are all human beings and all of us, including this community, deserve equal respect.”

Being respected within the community and outside helped Ashwini convince Sundari not to fall into the trap of begging and sex work as she had done when she faced social stigma for being a transgender. Sundari, too, wanted to give up school. Fortunately, she followed Ashwini’s advice to continue with her education and has now completed Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from Mysore.

However, the community is still grappling with one of its biggest challenges, with suicide among transgenders on the rise. Rejection by family, friends and society has emerged as a major risk factor. A depressed Mita took an overdose of sleeping pills and committed suicide after the hospital in Raichur, Karnataka, refused to treat her and turned her away when it realised she was a transgender.

While psycho-social counselling to deal with depression is being carried out by a number of organisations like Sangama, it is also increasingly being done now by community members.

Keaaviiraag Poddar has been touring districts in West Bengal to give motivational talks to the transgender community

Keaaviiraag Poddar, who just completed a sex reassignment surgery to transition from a female to male, has been touring districts in West Bengal to give motivational talks to the transgender community.

“I belong to a conservative family in Siliguri, West Bengal. I am a double MA but have still not been accepted by my family. But I have not given up. As a member of the Association of Transgender/Hijra in Bengal (ATHB), the first registered network in India formed to focus attention on the issues of the transgender and Hijra community, I am motivating them to remain strong, skill themselves and be happy.”

The writer is a senior journalist based in Delhi

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