Ignorance Is Not Bliss

We thank you for your interest in us. We would like to introduce ourselves and help you know us better. We wish that you walk with us, support us and for that it is important that you understand us.

Our Identity

Anatomical Sex

Sex (sometimes called biological sex, anatomical sex, or physical sex) is comprised of things like genitals, chromosomes, hormones, body hair, and more. But one thing it’s not: gender.

Gender Identity

Your psychological sense of self. Who you, in your head, know yourself to be, based on how much you align (or don’t align) with what you understand to be the options for gender.

Gender Expression

The ways you present gender, through your actions, clothing, demeanor, and more. Your outward-facing self, and how that’s interpreted by others based on gender norms.

Attraction

Like sex, attraction isn’t really a component of gender. However, we often conflate sexual orientation with gender, or categorize the attraction we experience in gendered ways.

Transgender Persons

Those individuals who are socially, legally and medically categorized as being either male or female, but who assert that this is not their self-identity and/or expression. Transgender people may or may not be intersex. It is a self stated identity.

Intersex Persons

Those individuals who have atypical sex characteristics [anatomical, chromosomal, hormonal, etc.] that do not conform to the social, legal and medical categories of being either male or female. Intersex people may or may not be transgender.

Cisgender

A term used to describe people who are not transgender, those whose gender identity is aligned with the one they are assigned at birth.

Genderfluid

It is a gender identity that refers to a gender which varies over time. A gender fluid person may at any time identify as male, female, neutrois, or any other non-binary identity, or some combination of identities. Their gender can also vary at random or vary in response to different circumstances. Gender fluid people may also identify as multigender, non-binary and/or transgender.

Gender Dysphoria

In 2013, the American Psychiatric Association released the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) which replaced the outdated entry “Gender Identity Disorder” with Gender Dysphoria, and changed the criteria for diagnosis. Gender dysphoria is a conflict between the individual’s assigned gender and the gender with which the individual identifies.

Our Names

Globally, trans people are known by many different names. In Latin America, a travesti is a person who has been assigned male at birth and who has a feminine, transfeminine, or “femme” gender identity. In Thailand and Laos the term kathoey is used to refer to maleto-female transgender people. In the Philippines, Bakla is a Tagalog term used to refer to an array of sexual and gender identities, but mainly that of a man who cross dresses. Even in India, the terminology differs across regions.

Hijra

According to the 2014 NALSA judgement, hijras are biological males who reject their masculine identity and identify either as women, or “not men”, or “in-between man and woman” or “neither man nor woman”. However, intersex people are also a part of hijra gharanas. In India, hijras tend to identify as a community with its own initiation rituals and professions (like begging, dancing at weddings or blessing babies). They even have their own secret code language, known as Hijra Farsi, which is derived from Persian and Hindustani.

Kinnar

The term for hijras in north India. Aravani: The term for hijras in Tamil Nadu. The meaning of the term ‘Aravani’ literally means a person who worships Lord Aravan. It is an ethno-religious group.

Shiv-Shakthis

Typically referring to a community of trans people in Andhra Pradesh who are ‘married to’ the gods, particularly Lord Shiva. They work typically as astrologers or spiritual healers. The ethno-religious group is guarded by gurus who induct disciples and train them for the work.

Transman

A transman is a man who was assigned female at birth. The label of transgender man is not always interchangeable with that of transsexual man, although the two labels are often used in this way. Many trans men choose to undergo surgical or hormonal transition, or both to alter their appearance in a way that aligns with their gender identity. Trans men are often termed as the minority within the minority, because the narrative around the trans experience is centred around trans women. While hijras have a community, a safe space that they can turn to, trans men often do not have one and don’t know others experiencing Gender Dysphoria like they are. Violence and corrective rape are common among trans men in India, but The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2016 only mentions the word ‘trans-man’ once and does not address any specific issues that the community faces. Government officials have often refused to change a transman’s sex in their documentation because according to them, the rule only applies to the Hijra community.

Kothi

The judgement describes kothis as a heterogeneous group, because it refers to cis men who show varying degrees of being effeminate. They prefer to take the feminine role in same-sex relationships, though many kothis are bisexual. Some hijras identify as kothi as well, while not all kothis identify as hijra or even transgender. They do not live in separate communities.

Jogti/Jogtas and Jogappas

In Maharashtra and Karnataka, jogtas and jogtis refer to male and female servants who dedicate (or are made to dedicate) their lives to gods in different temples. They refer to male-to-female trans people who devote themselves to the service of a particular god. Shubha Chacko from Solidarity Foundation says that most Jogti/Jogtas and Jogappas do not identify as hijras. In fact, there is a danger of the hijra identity wiping out other identities.

Our Cultural History

In Indian mythology, trans people are found in various Hindu texts, such as the Mahabharata -Arjuna cross dressing as the teacher Brihannala, the change in Shikhandi’s gender, Ardhanarishvara as the androgynous composite form of Shiva and Parvati. In some versions of the Ramayana, there are references to King Ila who spent half of his life as a man and the other as a woman. There are mentions of trans people in the Kamasutra, an ancient Indian Hindu text about human sexual behaviour, and they can also be identified in ancient Hindu temple carvings.

Today, in certain parts of India, trans people hold the position of blessing newborn children and newlyweds- this is called badhai. However, in Kerala and in the North-East this is not a common practice among trans women. Their semi-divine status today is owed to a popular tale from the Ramayana, where Lord Rama, a major Hindu deity, blessed trans people since they waited for him for the entire period of his exile. Many trans people refer to this tale to emphasize their value and status in society. Trans people in India have a recorded history of nearly 4000 years. They were known to have played a role in the Ottoman Empire and Mughal empires in medieval India. They held important positions in court such as those of generals, administrators, and advisors. Many travelers have documented the elevated status of trans people in the Mughal empire, specifically in harem management. They also guarded the tomb of the Prophet according to the British traveler Eldon Rutter’s travelogue in 1925.

Unfortunately, the British era Criminal Tribes Act of 1871 persecuted trans people and relegated them to the margins of society. The Act pronounced the entire community of Hijra persons as innately ‘criminal’ and ‘addicted to the systematic commission of non-bailable offences’. The Act mandated the registration and surveillance of trans people, and they could be arrested without warrant, sentenced to imprisonment up to two years, fined or both. However, we believe that our country is uniquely positioned at this moment in time to correct history after decades of persecution and this paper is a humble attempt in this direction.

Societal Challenges

Despite this tumultuous legal scenario, there are trans people trailblazing and lending visibility in several walks of life in contemporary India.

We feel it is important to situate trans people in our cultural and social moment to be able to understand the unique difficulties faced by trans people in India. In 2011, a national census was carried out to estimate the transgender population in the country. The Census reports showed the total number of trans people in India to be around 4.9 lakh. Activists insist that this estimate is conservative, because trans people may also identify as female or male (within the binary) and may not record themselves as transgender. Aside from this homelessness due to family abuse leads to many trans people living an ‘illegitimate’ existence with families of adoption. What follows is an overview of some of the major societal challenges that India’s trans community faces today.

Discrimination by the family

Gendered expectations from children lead to trans children being scolded, abused and even assaulted by their family members. Due to shame and disgust, parents may even disown or evict their child, fearing for their marital prospects and the continuance of their family line. A study by the National Institute of Epidemiology surveyed 60,000 transgender people across 17 states, including Tamil Nadu. It found that a large percentage of the population received no support from their biological family. To exacerbate this problem, the 2016 Bill doesn’t recognize families of adoption that often keep trans children safe from violence and requires that a trans child stay with their natal family

Poor literacy

Formal education is also hard to come by due to severe bullying and teasing making studying impossible in school. The 2011 census data revealed that 48% of the trans population was literate and that 58% dropped out of school before the 10th grade. Anjali Gopalan of Naz Foundation says these numbers are unsurprising due to the amount of discrimination and harassment trans students face.

Issues relating to gender affirmation surgery

A lack of family support, financial support, and educational background leads transwomen into the jamaat system, where they might take up sex work due to its income generating capacity. The jamaat system is a cohabitating system for transwomen that proves to be a support system. Moreover, one of the reasons reported by hijras for taking up sex work is to save money to undergo gender affirmative surgery. Since private facilities are unaffordable, individuals often go to unqualified doctors - and yet the cost of that is about 10,000 rupees. This may be paid for by the hijra guru. Individuals often go to the senior hijra (dai amma) for this procedure as well. Urological complications such as fistulas and urethral obstructions arise from these unofficial procedures. And yet, these gharanas provide trans women with a safe space where people understand their needs – this is why it proves difficult to bring them into mainstream employment channels.

Violence and societal rejection

One of the biggest perpetrators of violence against the community are the police and law-enforcing authorities. The 2011 census revealed that 52% of trans people surveyed face violence from the police. Violence and extortion is often experienced by trans people in sex work by clients and even the police due to the criminalisation of sex work in the country. In reality, even trans people who are not soliciting are thought to be involved with sex work and are arrested by the police - this does not require a warrant to arrest or search. Anti-beggary laws also penalize traditional livelihoods of the trans community. The Indian government publishes annual statistics about crimes against men and women, but it doesn’t do the same for trans people. A survey conducted by the Swasti Health Resource Centre (a Bengaluru-based non-profit group) interviewed 2169 trans people from Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. It revealed that 40% of trans people have experienced sexual abuse in India before turning 18. It begins as early as age 5, and continues even after childhood. Spouses/partners are also perpetrators of violence towards a trans person - they are often not seen as victims of domestic abuse.

Efforts across state governments in India

India is a federation of 29 states and often the laws relating to trans people in some states are more progressive than those implemented at the Centre. State governments implemented the following schemes and programmes for the community that were seen as big steps towards trans inclusion - among these were healthcare services, loans, skilling programmes and more.

Our intention here is to honour the work of these progressive states but to also issue a call to action for other states to learn from the exemplary work being done by their counterparts. The following are some of the state-sponsored schemes and initiatives that emerged out of the NALSA judgment.

Tamil Nadu
• Free registration of lands and ration cards
• Offers soft loans to incentivise the establishment of businesses
• Vocational training • Free health insurance
• The first state in India to implement a transgender welfare board in 2008. They are called Aravani Welfare boards. However, it does not recognise trans men and a physical examination is required for the issue of ID card.

Kerala
• By 2017, both Cochin and Trivandrum had welfare boards. They also included trans men, but their schemes are still in their initial phases
• Formed a state Transgender Cell for skilling and training
• Issues ID cards by a committee headed by the District Collector. This committee includes members from the community, The District Health Officer, the Joint/ Assistant Director Social Welfare, a representative from an NGO and a psychiatrist
• Offered scholarships for school and higher education
• The University of Kerala has a trans policy which prohibits and safeguards against ragging and discrimination. It also offers special facilities, awareness programmes and barrier-free access to education
• Teachers have been trained and sensitised in 2467 schools
• Offered pension for trans individuals above the age of 60 • Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) authorities came forward offering jobs to transgender persons in housekeeping, customer care and crowd management sections

Karnataka
• Akkai Padmashali’s organisation ‘Ondede’ has also joined hands with the Election Commission (EC) in conducting awareness programs for the transgender community (Goled, 2018). She says, “There are more than one lakh transgenders in the state and in this elections, more than 10,000 of them would be participating. We hope that this number increases in the coming years.”
• Offered a pension scheme for trans individuals from the ages 18 to 64

Odisha
• Issue of BPL cards and free housing schemes
• Provided 100 days of paid work annually
• Entitled to 5kg of food grains under India’s National Food Security Act
• Pensions and loans to start up businesses Chhattisgarh
• Eleven departments i.e. Health, Higher Education, Women & Child Development, Social Welfare, Technical Education, School Education, Home, Panchayat and Rural Development, Urban Development, Public Relations and General Administration have announced schemes or activities specifically for the community
• Schools from class 8-10 have introduced chapters on what it means to be transgender in their curriculum, so as to sensitise students, parents as well as teachers
• Special provisions for healthcare have been provided through Thursday OPD that is reserved for trans people in medical colleges and hospitals
• 2% reservation for housing schemes through Indira Awas Yojana
• Free SRS to be provided in government hospitals

Our Legal Challenges

What did the 2016 Bill get right?

The Bill penalizes violence against the transgender community, disallows discrimination in employment, recruitment and promotion and declares them as a backward class.

What the Bill did not get right?

The Bill contains an unscientific definition of the word ‘transgender’. It says that a transgender person is someone who is “neither wholly female nor wholly male, or a combination of female and male, or neither female nor male; and whose sense of gender does not match with the gender assigned to that person at the time of birth, and includes trans men and trans women, persons with intersex variations and gender queers.” The Bill conflates transgender and intersex categories. Sampoorna, a collective of Trans and Intersex Indians, offers the following definition: “Transgender persons are those individuals who are socially, legally and medically categorised as being either male or female, but who assert that this is not their self-identity and/or expression. Transgender people may or may not be intersex” (2017). Additionally, the process of applying for a gender identity certificate mandates a district level screening committee to decide who is trans, by way of medical examination. This physical examination is a violation of the NALSA judgment which granted the right to self-identify gender irrespective of hormonal therapy or gender affirming surgeries. It also doesn’t recognise hijra families of adoption and criminalizes begging - which will result in an increase in family and police violence and abuse. Moreover, it does not outline any employment schemes or healthcare programmes for the community.

From 2016 and 2017, trans collectives deposed in front of a Parliamentary Standing Committee on Social Justice about the ways in which this version of the bill is inadequate. As of December 2018, the Bill was set to be re-introduced in Parliament after incorporating most of the recommendations made by the Standing Committee report of July 2017 - such as changing the definition of ‘transgender’. However, it still remains silent about reservations and the right to partnership and marriage.

In August 2017, the Supreme Court concluded that the right to one’s sexual orientation is at the core of the fundamental rights outlined in Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution. Kothari (2017) writes that sexual orientation rights aren’t limited to LGB groups but inextricably linked to transgender and intersex persons as well. The Court also held that “The rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender population are real rights founded on sound constitutional doctrine. They inhere in the right to life. They dwell in privacy and dignity. They constitute the essence of liberty and freedom. Sexual orientation is an essential component of identity.” It held that “Equal protection demands protection of the identity of every individual without discrimination.” This includes the right to one’s self-identified gender identity as upheld by the NALSA v. Union of India judgment.

In a landmark judgment on September 6, 2018, the Supreme Court read down Section 377 as a law that violated the dignity and privacy of the LGBTQ community. Among others, trans activists such as Akkai Padmashali and Uma Umesh petitioned against it, and The Chief Justice of India Deepak Misra pronounced Section 377 as “irrational, indefensible and manifestly arbitrary”. It is a huge step forward for trans people on their road to legal recognition, but it is also the removal of an obstacle for corporations and other stakeholders. Inclusion efforts were often curtailed due to the misconception that Section 377 criminalised it or criminalised LGBTQ identities, but now nothing stands in the way of an organisation that wants to work towards being more inclusive.

The above section has excerpts from A Manifesto for Trans Inclusion in the Indian Workplace BY NAYANIKA NAMBIAR WITH PARMESH SHAHANI, December 2018, Godrej Culture Labs. We thank them for their support.