New Delhi: The transgender community in India hopes that the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on privacy not only ends with a law against homosexuality but also changes the mentality about gender identities and sexual choices.
Days after the court said the right to privacy was critical, community members expressed hope that it would lead to the end of Section 377, which criminalizes homosexuality.
The transgender beauty queen of Manipur Rohit Khumanthem hoped that people’s attitudes would change as well.
“Acceptance of society is the first step towards empowering the community and for that, people must believe that transgenders are human beings like them,” Khumanthem said.
An aspiring lawyer, hoping to fight for the rights of women and disadvantaged children, Khumanthem said it was necessary to spread awareness about the community.
“People must know who we really are and how we live in our daily lives, they have to be sensitized, only then will they begin to accept us,” he told PTI.
The 22-year-old was here to take part in the recently celebrated ‘Miss Transqueen India 2017’, the nation’s first beauty contest for transgenders.
Founded by Reena Rai, the event was not only aimed at giving the community a platform to show talent and beauty, but also to create a forum to advocate for their concerns.
Looking at the recent landmark judgment pronounced by the apex court, Rai believed that a dignified life for the transgender community was no longer a distant dream.
“If you go to the Supreme Court trial, the community might soon be able to get adequate education and employment and live a decent life,” he said.
By virtue of its verdict on making privacy a fundamental right, the Supreme Court clarified that, since the challenge to section 377 was pending before another higher court, it would leave the constitutional validity decided in an “appropriate proceeding.”
Rai added the key to achieve the goal was “a change in mentality”. “The change will not come until there is acceptance from us, no matter what the Supreme Court decides, if there is no end to the daily discrimination we inflict on the community, change will not occur,” he said.
Eliza, born Abomcha Ngangom, believed that the process of empowerment had begun, but social ostracism came on the path of progress.
The transgender, who also participated in the beauty pageant, recalled how her parents used to worry about her fondness for “feminine things” as a child.
Now, a beautician who runs a successful salon, Eliza said she was “tortured” by her family after she visited a female beauty salon in Class 8.
Many stressed that they had hope for the future. “We have had to struggle from the moment we went out on our sexuality, we have had to struggle not only with society but also with our parents,” said Namita, a 26-year-old transsexual artist.
But members of the community today were not beggars or sex workers, he said.
“They are becoming inspectors and directors,” he said, referring to K Prithika Yashini, India’s first transgender deputy inspector, and Manabi Bandyopadhyay, the community’s first university director.
Around 1500 people from the community participated in the contest, the first of its kind here. The winner, Natasha of Kolkata, will now represent India at Miss TransQueen International in Thailand.
