INTRODUCTION
“It is absolutely imperative that every human being’s freedom and human rights are respected, all over the world.” - Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, First Gay Head of State of Iceland.
Since the emergence of life on this planet there is one principle that was and is in existence that is one who has the power will dominate over the other. As a consequence, the king or the tribe or the clan who had the big force oppressed the other and make him under his sway. Similarly, the same phenomenon prevailed in humans. Society was made in this way that all the rules were in accordance with men, which confined the limits of the work of women. Men used to use women in such a way that they wanted to do and this prevailed worldwide. Having said that, I would say that there were some eras where the condition of women was remarkable like in Ancient India. Women were educated and taking participation in public assemblies and putting their views. However, as time passed and foreign attacks increased in India people imposed so many restrictions on women for their protection. And gradually all those restrictions became customs and came into practice in the form of evil practices. During the time of the medieval period, girls and women were suppressed, raped, and made sexual slaves and matrimonial alliances were done just to increase their boundaries nothing else. In modern times, due to the efforts of social reformers and activists, the condition has improved but not at a greater level. Still, there is a large scope where the work needs to rectify. Apart from the struggle of these two, there is another element who were adversely affected in all the eras and all the corners of the world and that is the 'Third Gender. Before we go and put our attempt to understand what is Third Gender, here, we need to understand Gender and Sex. First of all, we'll try to understand what is Sex. Sex is the biological and physiological differences between males and females based on their reproductive organs. And it can be categorized into two ways: first is Male and second is Female. For instance, a male has XY chromosomes and a female has only XX chromosomes; the male has Penis and testicles whereas the female has ovaries, a uterus, a cervix, and a vagina; the female has a breast to feed the young ones whereas male doesn't have Breast. A Male has testosterone hormone in greater amounts while a female has estrogen in greater amounts. Sex is determined by birth. Secondly, Gender is the social, cultural, behavioral, and emotional differences between men and women. It can be categorized into two ways: first is Masculine and second is Feminine. There are some roles and responsibilities, attributes, and entitlements that have been decided for both males and females. Such as for males duties are supposed like Construction, defense, risk-taking, aggression, higher workforce participation, and financial autonomy. For females, duties are supposed like loving, delicate in nature, and store of familial virtues, not party-going, obedient, emotional, or financially dependent on males. Gender, however, is a flexible term it can be changed according to time and culture.
Now, we have been familiar with a term like a gender and sex. It'll be easy for us to understand the third gender and its various terms. Broadly, sex is divided into two parts:
1. Heterosexual:
When two individuals of the opposite sex make physical relationships they are called Heterosexual.
It is subdivided into two types:
- Male: It means the body of a living being which has the ability to impregnate and have male sexual gametes.
- Female: It means the body of a living being which has the ability to give birth to another life either in the form of an egg or in the form of another body.
2. Homosexual:
When two individuals of the same sex make physical relationships they are called Homosexual.
It is subdivided in a unique way that is called LGBTQI+. The meaning of each letter is given below:
- Lesbian: Lesbian means those girls\women who feel physical attraction from girls\women only.
- Gay: Gay means those boys\ men who feel physical attraction from boys\ men only.
- Bisexual: It means when a boy or a girl has sexual feelings for both boy and a girl.
- Transgender: It means a person whose gender does not match with the gender assigned to that person at birth and includes trans-man or trans-woman (whether or not such person has undergone Sex Reassignment Surgery or hormone therapy or laser therapy or such other therapy), a person with intersex variations, genderqueer and person having such socio-cultural identities as kinner, hijra, aravani and jogta.
- Intersex: Intersex people are individuals born with any of several sex characteristics including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies".
- Queer: Queer is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning "strange" or "peculiar", queer came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century.
Some terms are concerned with the third gender, those are as follows:
- Trans-man: The man who was declared or assigned as a female infant at the time of birth however, as the years passed, the same child realizes that his emotions are like a man not like a girl. That person just feels like he has entered the body of a female. To resolve this problem he recourses Sex Reassignment therapies like hormonal changes and sex reassignment surgery. After following the therapies and surgery that person is called a Trans-man.
- Trans-woman: A trans woman or a transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. As the year's pass, however, the same child realizes that his emotions are off like a girl not like a boy. That person just feels like he has entered the body of a male. In order to resolve this problem she recourses Sex Reassignment therapies like hormonal changes and sex reassignment surgery. After following the therapies and surgery that person is called a Trans-woman.
- Transphobia: It is a kind of existence of fear for that gender which was always kept out of the reach of other people. It is due to the backward mentality of the people and social exclusion.
- Gender dysphoria (GD) is the distress a person experiences due to a mismatch between their gender identity—their sense of their gender—and their sex assigned at birth. The diagnostic label gender identity disorder (GID) was used until 2013 with the release of the diagnostic manual DSM-5. The condition was renamed to remove the stigma associated with the term disorder.
- Hermaphrodite: In reproductive biology, a hermaphrodite is an organism that has both kinds of reproductive organs and can produce both gametes associated with the male and female sexes.
THIRD GENDER AS DEFINED AND LEGAL FIGURE IN INDIA
"The Lord is my Shepherd and he knows I'm gay." - Troy Perry, 'The Autobiography of Rev. Troy D. Perry,' 1972.
The third gender is something that was neither considered a human being nor even a gender. They were just considered as the 'unwanted element' of society and this was the mentality of the beings from always. It sounds strange but its story is more weird and painful.
In India, since ancient times there is an availability of about information of transgenders or kinnar or hijjars in a primitive epic like Mahabharata. Which, once one of the most important characters of Mahabharata, Arjun became kinnar and in that form, he was called Brihanhala. The third Genders mainly worship lord Shiva because one of his forms is the combination of Mata Parvati and his; which is called Ardhnareeshwar. During the time of the Britishers, however, their condition become worse when in 1871, legislation was enacted to supervise the deeds of the Hijras/TG community, called the Criminal Tribes Act, 1871, which considered the whole community of Hijras persons as innately 'criminal' and 'addicted to the systematic commission of non-bailable offenses. And this remained the same after the independence of India but the 21st-century era changed and people and government brought a drastic change in the rules. To understand that let's put development in chronological order:
- In 2009, the Election Commission issued a direction to all the state governments to modify their registration forms and add the term "others" so that the members of the LGBTQI+ community can tick that column if they are not desired in marking the column of either male or female.
- A case in the Supreme court was observed between National Legal Services Authority Vs. Union of India (2014) the members of LGBTQI+ people were recognized as the "Third gender". Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan pertinently observed that “recognition of transgenders as a third gender is not a social or medical issue, but a human rights issue”.
- The Rights of Transgender Persons Bill, 2014 was proposed by the MP Tiruchi Siva of the DMK party as a private member Bill in Rajya Sabha and it was passed in April 2015.
- Lok Sabha has passed the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill 2016. The bill will now be placed in Rajya Sabha. However, it could not be passed.
- Again, Bill was proposed by the current government in July 2019 in Lok Sabha and passed on 5 August 2019. Then it was proposed in Rajya Sabha which was passed by it on 20 November 2019.
THE TRANSGENDER PERSONS (PROTECTION OF RIGHTS) ACT, 2019 which was passed by the Parliament on 26 November 2019, is comprised of the following chapters with subtopics.
CHAPTER I
PRELIMINARY
1. Short title, extent, and commencement.
2. Definitions.
CHAPTER II
PROHIBITION AGAINST DISCRIMINATION
3. Prohibition against discrimination.
CHAPTER III
RECOGNITION OF THE IDENTITY OF TRANSGENDER PERSONS
4. Recognition of the identity of a transgender person.
5. Application for certificate of identity.
6. Issue of certificate of identity.
7. Change in gender.
CHAPTER IV
WELFARE MEASURES BY THE GOVERNMENT
8. Obligation of appropriate Government.
CHAPTER V
OBLIGATION OF ESTABLISHMENTS AND OTHER PERSONS
9. Non-discrimination in employment.
10. Obligations of establishments.
11. Grievance redressal mechanism.
12. Right of residence.
CHAPTER VI
EDUCATION, SOCIAL SECURITY, AND HEALTH OF TRANSGENDER PERSONS
13. Obligation of educational institutions to provide inclusive education to transgender persons.
14. Vocational training and self-employment.
15. Healthcare facilities.
CHAPTER VII
NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR TRANSGENDER PERSONS
16. National Council for Transgender Persons.
17. Functions of Council.
CHAPTER VIII
OFFENCES AND PENALTIES
18. Offences and penalties
CHAPTER IX
MISCELLANEOUS
SECTIONS
19. Grants by Central Government.
20. Act not in derogation of any other law.
21. Protection of action taken in good faith.
22. Power of appropriate Government to make rules.
23. Power to remove difficulties.
Definition:
A transgender person as "whose gender does not match the gender assigned to that person at birth and includes trans-men or trans-women, persons with intersex variations, gender-queers, and persons having socio-cultural identities such as kinnar, hijras, aravani, and jogta”.
Let's know a bit more about this Act:
Right of residence: Every transgender person shall have a right to reside and be included in his household.
Employment: No government or private entity can discriminate against a transgender person in employment matters, including recruitment, and promotion. Every establishment is required to designate a person to be a complaint officer to deal with complaints to the Act.
Education: Educational institutions funded or recognized by the relevant government shall provide inclusive education, sports, and recreational facilities for transgender persons, without discrimination.
Health care: The government must take steps to provide health facilities to transgender persons including separate HIV surveillance centres, and sex reassignment surger• ies.
Certificate of identity for a transgender person: A transgender person may make an application to the District Magistrate for a certificate of identity, indicating the gender as ‘transge• nder
In India, the evolution of the third gender International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia: It is celebrated every year on May 17 since 2004. It aims to draw attention to violence and discrimination experienced by LGBTQI+. The theme for the year 2022 was “Our Bodies, Our Lives, Our Rights.” And the month of June is celebrated as the month of Pride by the members of the LGBTQI+ since 28 June 196• 9.
NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR TRANSGENDER AND ITS FUNCTIONS
The National Council shall consist of -
(a) the Union Minister-in-charge of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment,
Chairperson, ex officio;
(b) the Minister of State, in charge of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in the Government, Vice-Chairperson, ex officio;
(c) Secretary to the Government of India in charge of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Member, ex officio;
(d) one representative each from the Ministries of Health and Family Welfare, Home Affairs,
Housing and Urban Affairs, Minority Affairs, Human Resources Development, Rural Development, Labour and Employment and Departments of Legal Affairs, Pensions and Pensioners Welfare and National Institute for Transforming India Aayog, not below the rank of Joint Secretaries to the Government of India, Members, ex officio
(e) one representative each from the National Human Rights Commission and the National,
Commission for Women, not below the rank of Joint Secretaries to the Government of India, Members, ex officio;
(f) representatives of the State Governments and Union territories by rotation, one each from the North, South, East, West, and North-East regions, to be nominated by the Central Government, Members, ex officio;
(g) five representatives of the transgender community, by rotation, from the State Governments and Union territories, one each from the North, South, East, West, and North-East regions, to be nominated by the Central Government, Members;
(h) five experts, to represent non-governmental organizations or associations, working for the
the welfare of transgender persons, to be nominated by the Central Government, Members; and
(i) Joint Secretary to the Government of India in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment
dealing with the welfare of transgender persons, Member Secretary, ex officio.
- The National Council shall perform the following functions, namely:—
(a) to advise the Central Government on the formulation of policies, programs, legislation, and projects concerning transgender persons;
(b) to monitor and evaluate the impact of policies and programmes designed to achieve equality and full participation of transgender persons;
(c) to review and coordinate the activities of all the departments of Government and other Governmental and non-Governmental Organisations which are dealing with matters relating to transgender persons;
(d) to redress the grievances of transgender persons; and
(e) to perform such other functions as may be prescribed by the Central Government.
CHALLENGES FACED BY THE THIRD GENDER
Particularly in India, there are so many challenges that are being faced by the Third Gender. To understand that we can categorize the issues in two parts and which are given below:
1. Socio-economic challenges:
Societal acceptance is essential for a peaceful life of one. In the case of the third gender, however, it is onerous to get. In society, there is nothing like the third gender, and owing to that third gender has to face multifarious problems. The biggest problem which is faced by one any gender is social and economic. The economic condition is worse than the women's. Let's try to understand those challenges with the following points:
Social disallowance: In society, people don't accept something which is not like them and something weird. The number of transgenders is very less despite that people don't try to establish some sort of relationship with them. Due to that, they experience multiple forms of discrimination like racism, sexism, homophobia, etc.
Prejudice at the workplace: According to the report of the NHRC, 96% of transgender were denied jobs and enforced to do that jobs which are not acceptable for any self-esteemed person such as begging at railway stations and bus stations.
Education system: It's been 75 years since India to be independent, however, the literacy level of underprivileged people(transgenders) is still low. It's because of the lack of special provisions and poor willpower and implementation of policy for the inclusion of policies of the government. If we talk about the literacy of transgenders in India as per the census of 2011, that will be 46% whereas the literacy of the general population is 74%. There are some reasons for this result such as poverty, rejection of society/family, violence, sexual abuse, and comments from people. All these things are collectively responsible for the fall of literacy levels.
Homelessness: When parents get to know that their child belongs to the third gender they feel that they have got the curse. After some time due to the multiple pressure on a child, he/she leaves his/her native place and become homeless. This compels him to stay on the roadside and in shelter homes, where they are not borne for a long time because people don't let the same-sex couple stay together. Ultimately these things bring the condition of homelessness to them.
Issue of transphobia: The element like transphobia is a condition where people have some sort of fear, negative feeling, and attitude toward homosexual people. These negative points lead to the feeling of maintaining distance from the third gender.
Health-related issues: Lack of providers with expertise in transgender medicine and lack of financial stability. They suffered from various diseases in 2017 the proliferation of HIV was noticed and was 3.1%. In addition to this, they also undergo psychological pressure due to the bad behaviour of society.
2. Political Challenges:
Gender which is not even getting its social and economic rights so just think about that how they would be getting their political rights. In the preamble of the Indian constitution, there is the word called equality which talks about equality of status and opportunity; and promotes among them all. Here, however, it is not visible in the case of the third gender. This point can be understood in the following way:
They have been debarred of fundamental rights due to ambiguity in their identity and non-recognition as a third gender. They feel hesitation in revealing their identity which infringes on their constitutional rights like political liberty, freedom of expression, education, etc.
They have been deprived of human rights like driving licenses, passports, ration cards, identity cards, etc.
Their representation in assemblies, decision-making bodies, and pressure group is almost zero. In the Lok Sabha elections of 2019, merely 1% voted among 8% of registered voters as other voters.
IMPACT OF COVID-19
Apart from the conventional reasons, there is another unique and devastating incident was seen in the form of the coronavirus. Some issues were noticed during that time and those are as follows:
During the pandemic, they were more rejected by families and society and the loss of jobs further increased their disabilities. And they started suffering more than before.
The third gender people were not getting proper treatment for themselves like HIV treatment, proper hormonal treatment, or gender reaffirming They didn't have government ID cards which could prove beneficial for them to take the services of the government.
Pressure from family regarding getting married to that person with whom they wanted to do.
Some steps were taken to bring some improvement in the treatment of transgender :
Encourage social harmony to increase the soft corner in heart of the people for the third gender.
AIDS control organization decided to reach out to the members of the LGBTQI+ with support in nutrition, and direct cash transfer. Hormone replacement theory and anti-retroviral drugs were declared essential services.
During the time of the pandemic, the NGOs that are specifically dedicated to the well-being of the members LGBTQI+ gave their support to facilitate the service of PDS from the side of government, relief packages from the side government, and also in getting a bank account for PM Care Fund.
INITIATIVES FOR THE UPLIFTMENT OF THIRD GENDER
We have seen the poor condition of the third gender and the undesirable behaviour of the people. Some steps, however, are being taken to improve the condition and their upliftment in society. Steps were taken to bring them into the mainstream of society. Some of the measures are given below:
Separate column: In the year 2020, the Ministry of Personnel asked all the departments of the Central Ministries to make a separate column in the sex for all exams of the Central government apart from two categories one is male and another is female. In 2016, the Railway Ministry years back mentioned a separate column for transgenders in the tickets for reservations plus transgender as an option for railway ticket forms.
SMILE (Support for Marginalized Individuals for Livelihood and Enterprise) scheme: It is a Central Sector (CSS) scheme formulated by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MoSJE) and will be implemented from 2021-22 to 2025-26. It is an umbrella scheme that aims to provide welfare and rehabilitation to the Transgender community and People engaged in the act of begging.
PM-DAKSH: Its full form is Pradhan Mantri Dakshta aur Kushalta Sampann Hitgrahi. Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment is providing training to the beneficiaries of the SMILE scheme through the PM-DAKSH scheme by the above-mentioned ministry.
Garima Greh: The main purpose of this is to provide shelters to transgenders to stay at least with basic needs like food, medical facility, etc.
Combination efforts of two: the Ministry of health and family welfare and the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment collectively provide a health package for transgenders under Ayushm• an Bharat-PMJAY.
NCT: Establishment of the National Council for Transgender Persons(NCT) to listen to the grievances of the third gender and also to launch and implement some multifarious schemes for their upliftment.
HOLISTIC AND INCLUSIVE STEPS FOR OVERALL DEVELOPMENT
As per the census of 2011, the population of the third gender is 4.88 lakh and the latest census of the 3rd decade of the 21st century is about to come. Thereafter, we'll be able to know better about the number of members of LGBTQI+. All of us are aware of the deplorable and inadmissible situation of the third gender in society. In order to resolve the problems we need to take various steps and also find solutions regarding that. Hence, some of the following can be those steps:
Education: Due to not the acceptance by society the members of the LGBTQI+ company don't pursue studies, which reduces the possibility of their upliftment in society. Government must put its attention to this regard by taking some global examples like Scotland, the first country to have an LGBTQI+ inclusive school curriculum in 2021. Schools in Scotland will teach the students about LGBTQI+ movements and how to tackle homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia.
General Awareness: The behviour and mentality of the people matter a lot in any problem. As far as it is concerned with the third gender, general awareness is necessary to create through telling people about the mental, social and economic trauma• of the people.
Rights and Representation: The third gender is also a marginalized section of society. They should be considered a Backward Class under Articles 15 and 16 of the Constitution. They should also participate in the state assemblies and Parliament.
Economic stability: It is revealed that the economic condition of the third gender is not good. Therefore steps should be taken to prioritize the skills training, employability, and entrepreneurship of LGBTQI+ persons to ensure their economic inclusion.
Inclusive policies: Non-discriminative policies should follow in all businesses. The stakeholders of the LGBTQI+ community should be incorporated to take their opinion while making policies.
Trans-inclusive Gender: It is necessary to have enough knowledge about transgenders in the workforce of the organization, the protection of rights of all gender at the workplace, and acceptance of the third gender another gender.
Rehabilitation: There should be proper arrangements for a residential place for them and ensure about not any mental harassment and discrimination. Take the assistance of civil societies and NGOs for the implementation of this.
Global examples:
- The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which sets global regulations for machine-readable passports, allows for three sex categories: female, male, or “X” for unspecified.
- Australia-New Zealand- Darlington Statement, 2017- setting out “the priorities and calls by the intersex human rights movement in our countries.”
- Netherlands - the Netherlands issued a policy removing gender markers from its national identity documents. The Netherlands appears to be the first country to remove such markers as a conscious step to promote the inclusion of transgender and no• n-binary people.
CINEMATIC TOUCH OF THE LIFE OF HOMOSEXUAL PEOPLE
"Openness may not completely disarm prejudice, but it's a good place to start." - Jason Collins, The Gay Athlete, Sports Il lustrated, 2013.
In India, cinema is something whose impact you can't deny on society. Cinema puts so many things ideas regarding the changes against the vices present in the society which are essential to take out. It's been more than a century since the Indian cinema and there have been varied films that have created a great impact. The issues like women's empowerment, atrocities of the landowner, casteism, untouchability, poverty and so many others were dealt which had a great impact on the mindset of the people. There, however, were some issues which remained untouched for decades like surrogacy, the pressure of studies on children, environmental issues, marital rape, etc. As far as it is concerned with the issue of third gender or transgenders it was the last two decades when the movies were made. Those films talked about the sensitive problems of the third gender. There are some names of national and international films:
- DAAYRA (1996)
Director - Amol Palekar
Cast - Nirmal Pandey, Sonali Kulkarni
- This film couldn't be released at that time in the theaters but it won a national award.
- There is a terrific and mindblowing dialogue in this movie which is said by the transgender character of Nirmal Pandey to the character of Sonali Kulkarni who was raped by someone when she was screaming and saying that my 'izzat' (self-esteem) has been looted. Then the character of Nirmal said, " How can just a piece of skin be 'izzat' ? God is not so fool, who puts 'izzat' at there. 'Izzat' stays here on the "mast• ak" (forehead)". - DARMIYAN (1997)
Director- Kalpana Lajmi
Cast- Aarif, Jakariya, Tabu, Kiran Kher - TAMANNA(1997)
Director- Mahesh Bhatt
Cast- Paresh Rawal, Pooja Bhatt, Manoj Vajpayee - SABNAM MAUSI(2005)
Director- Yogesh Bhardwaj
Cast- Ashutosh Rana, Mukesh Tiwari, Vishwajeet Pradhan
- This film was based on a real-life character, named Chandra Prakash who acted in various films. Later on, he came to Madhya Pradesh. Here, he was called Shabnam and stood in legislative elections and won it. And became the 1st transgender MLA. - SUPER DELUX (2019)
Director- Tyagrajan Kumaraja
Cast- Vijay Setupati, Samantha Prabhu, Phahad Fazil
- For this movie, Vijay Setupati won National Award for Best Supporting actor. - WELCOME TO SAJJANPUR(2008)
Director- Shyam Benegal
Caste- Shreyas Talpade, Ravi Jhan kaal, Amrita Rao - NJAN MARYKUTTY(2018)
Director- Ranjit Sankar
Cast- Joju George, Jewel Marry, Jayasurya - NANU AVANALLA AVALU(2015)
Director- B.S. Lingadevaru
Cast- Sanchari• Vijay, Sumitra
- GIRL (2018)
Director- Lukas Dhont
Cast- Victor Polster, Angelo Tijssens - BOYS DON'T CRY(1999)
Director- Kimberly Peirce
Cast- Brendan Sexton III, Chloë Sevigny - THE DANISH GIRL(2015)
Director- Tom Hooper
Cast- Starring: Eddie Redmayne;• Alicia Vikander - LAWERENCE ANYWAYS(2012)
Director- Xavier Dolan
Cast-Melvil Poupaud, Suzanne Clément, Nathalie Bay• e, Monia Chokri - DALLAS BUYERS CLUB(2013)
Director- Jean-Marc Vallée
Cast- Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Jared Leto, Denis O'Hare, Steve Zahn
CELEBRATED PERSONALITIES OF THIRD GENDER
"There isn't a trans moment… It's just a presence where there was an absence. We deserve so much more." - Hari Nef, The New Yorker, 2016.
If the person gets the opportunity to prove himself or herself, who has always been trampled in society and considered not even the person who had not even a different status in society; if the same person gets opportunity by putting his/her efforts then he/she sets the example in such a way that can prove that they are also the human beings and have the ability to do the things in the same manner as the other people can do. We have several examples who did extraordinary work for society. Some of them are as follows:
Padmini Prakash: She became the first trans-woman of India who became a news anchor in a local news of the Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu.
K Prithika Yashini: She is India's first transgender police officer. She is posted in Tamil Nadu. All these things, however, were not easy for her. She fought a legal battle to be identified as transgender on her application form for th• e police force.
Manabi Bandhopadaya: She was born as a boy in a Bengali family. Bandyopadhyay served as an associate professor in Bengali at Vivekananda Satobarshiki Mahavidyalaya. She is the first Ph.D. professor in India who accepts her identity as a transgender person. She went through gender realignment surgery in 2013 with the purpose to change her body entirely as a girl. She was the first transgender Ph.D. holder who did her doctorate in Bengali Literature. Thereafter, in June 2016, she was appointed as principal of Krishnagar women's College. Her biography A Gift of Goddess Lakshmi speaks of her journey from her childhood to her becoming India's first Third Gender Principal and it was co-authored by Jhimli Mukherjee Pandey.
Laxmi Narayan Tripathi: She is transgender and belongs to an LGBTQI+ community. In 2008, she represented Asia Pacific at the UN. And at the assembly, she spoke of the plight of sexual minorities. "People should be more human-like. They should respect us as humans and consider our rights as transgenders,". She is the founder of Astitva Trust in 2007. She is the founder of Kinnad Akhada and made history by taking the first shahi snaan at the Kumbh Mela in 2018.
Jotiya Mondal: She is India's first transgender judge appointed at Lok Adalat in North Bengal in Oct. 2017.
Sathyarsi Sharmila: She is India's first transgender Lawyer in 2018. Her name is enrolled her name in the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
Jiya Das: She is India's first transgender operation theatre Technician in June 2018.
Gauri Sawant: Gauri founded the Sakhi Char Chowghi Trust in 2000. The NGO promotes safe sex and provides counseling to transgender people. In 2014, she became the first transgender person to file a petition in the Supreme Court of India for the adoption rights of transgender people. She was a petitioner in the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) case in which the Supreme Court recognized transgender as the third gender. Gauri adopted a girl named Gayatri in 2008 after Gayatri's mother died of AIDS. As per her views, "Motherhood is beyond gender. Motherhood is a behaviour". As per the recent update, a film entitled with the name Taali is being made and that will be her biopic of her, in which Sushmita Sen is doing her role of her.
CONCLUSION
"Remember this, whoever you are, however you are, you are equally valid, equally justified, and equally beautiful." - Juno Dawson, 'The Gender Games: The Problems With Men and Women, From Someone Who Has Been Both,' 2017.
We want to proceed toward the existence of a world which will be free from all sorts of problems like racism, casteism, poverty, starvation, class, etc. Along with these issues we need to tackle the issues like transphobia and discrimination which takes place with the third gender. In India, whatever changes have come, have come in the last two decades. The current status of this issue is that Supreme Court has allowed legal, marriages of homosexual people. Steps are being taken but it's the responsibility of the people and the government to take this issue seriously and bring the member of the third gender into mainstream society as soon as possible. Let them join the nation and allow them to contribute to its growth of the nation.
. . .
REFERENCE:
- www.wikipedia.org
- www.indiacode.nic.in
- www.thehindu.com
- www.visionias.com
- www.drishtiias.com