Despite the world and their own bodies conspiring against them, a few members of the LGBT community have triumphed. These individuals have succeeded in defying all difficulties and attaining their full potential. The first person who springs to mind is 51-year-old Manobi Bandhopadhaya, who overcame persecution and numerous heartbreaks to become India’s and, if the media are to be believed, the world’s first transgender principal.
Manobi was born in Somnath to lower-middle-class parents, with a factory worker father and a housewife mother. Manobi overcame serious gender dysphoria and moved on with her life, enrolling in a nearby school before studying Bengali at a prestigious college in Kolkata. Her passion for women’s rights and gender equality led her to write a dissertation about transgender people in West Bengal.
When Manobi began hormone replacement treatment (HRT) in 2003, her personal and professional lives were flipped upside down. Hormone therapy wreaked havoc on her physical and mental well-being. When she registered at Krishnanagar Women’s College, where she worked as a lecturer, under a new name and gender identity, she discovered the world outside wasn’t very welcoming. Manobi’s coworkers responded unfavorably to her gender shift, even though her students lavished her with the same kind of love they always did. Manobi also discovered that she was refused wage raises as a result of her gender transition.
Things improved when Manobi was appointed as the principal of the same institution where she worked by the college service commission. The announcement made her an immediate celebrity, giving hope to not only transgendered Indians but also millions of other Indians who live in a bigoted and mostly oppressed culture.
Madhubai Kinnar: Madhubai Kinnar was born into a poor family, according to Narendra Chauhan. Her father worked as a day laborer. Madhu’s effeminate behaviors disturbed her family, and they did everything they could to “change” her conduct. In an attempt to do so, they even got her married. Madhubai’s union with a woman resulted in the birth of three children.
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Madhu, however, was unable to tolerate life as a male householder and fled to join a hijra group. In January 2015, she ran as an independent candidate in the Chhattisgarh elections and won, becoming the first woman mayor of Raipur.
This was extraordinary for a variety of reasons. To begin with, a transgender person winning a local election was a big victory in and of itself. Second, despite having absolutely no political foundation, a mentor, or a godfather to support her, Madhu defeated famous veteran political parties such as the BJP and INC. Madhu credits a large part of her electoral triumph to her hijra sisters, who assisted her with door-to-door canvassing prior to the polls.
Rose Venkatesan: Rose Venkatesan, born Ramesh Venkatesan, has always wanted to dress and act like a girl. Her journey was full of ups and downs; she was regularly hired and dismissed, endured workplace discrimination because of her gender identification, and lost contact with her mother, who believed Rose had brought shame to the family.
Rose, on the other hand, persevered and rose to prominence as a radio jockey and host of Tamil chat shows such as “Ippadikku Rose” (Yours truly, Rose) and “Idhu Rose Neram” (This is Rose’s time). Rose, an educated and intelligent woman, now plans to form the “Sexual Liberation Party of India,” a political party dedicated to the improvement and freedom of transgender people.
Shabnam Mausi: Ms. Shabnam Mausi ruled the roost long before Madhubai Kinnar arrived on the scene. She was India’s first transgender person elected to a public office. She served on the Madhya Pradesh state legislative committee as an elected member from 1998 to 2003. Shabnam Mausi utilized her position in the legislative assembly, among other things, to speak out against prejudice and crimes against hijras, as well as to promote awareness about HIV and AIDS. Over the years, the renowned Shabnam Mausi has inspired many hijras to enter politics and volunteer in the community to improve the lives of the LGBT community and the rest of India’s oppressed people. She also urged transgender people to communicate freely about AIDS and take action to eradicate it.
Padmini Prakash has always wanted to be a female since he was a small kid. Her parents disowned her when she was thirteen, and she tried suicide as a result. Padmini escaped the assassination attempt and went on to complete her degree. She went on to study Bharatnatyam, an Indian traditional dance discipline. Padmini was eventually chosen to read the news on Rose TV (a Coimbatore-based television channel), and she is well-liked by viewers for her on-screen personality, voice modulation, and diction.
Ghazal Dhaliwal: Ghazal, who was born Gunraj into an upper-middle-class Punjabi family, has suffered from gender dysphoria since she was a child. Throughout all of Ghazal’s agonizing, lonely years of emotional sorrow, she worked hard in school and college to maintain her high marks. Ghazal’s social life, on the other hand, worsened, and she withdrew into a shell. Reminiscing about her, classmates describe her as a “quiet, bashful boy.”
When Ghazal underwent sex reassignment surgery in Bangkok, everything changed for the better. Ms. Ghazal was in her late twenties when the procedure was performed. Despite this, Ghazal’s feminization appears unaffected—it’s impossible to tell Ghazal differently from a genetic woman.
Today Ghazal is a stunning, intelligent, and outgoing young woman who is living her life to the fullest. She offers motivational lectures in which she articulately outlines her battles with gender dysphoria and invites the general public to be more understanding of those who have similar challenges. People, according to Ghazal, are generally nice at heart but act in a specific way because of fear fueled by a lack of understanding. Ghazal, a chemical engineering graduate from NIT Jaipur, worked for two years at the software firm Infosys before departing. Ghazal is not only a motivational speaker but also a voice-over and dubbing artist, as well as a screenwriter for the Hindi film business.
Kalki Subramaniam, a writer, actor, and transgender rights activist, and Priya Babu, a transgender rights campaigner, are two more notable members of the group. Swapna Madhurai was the first transgender IAS aspirant and the first transsexual to pass the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission Exam.
- previous article: No Country for Hijras to Live in Peace?
- next article: Depiction of the Third Gender in Indian Films and Literature
I have been a story writer since 1998 and have published many novels/novellas in both English and Japanese. Protagonists of the following fictions are Hijras – including ordinary males who turn into Hijras over the course of the story:
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