If we don’t even bother to acknowledge their existence, how can we alleviate their sufferings?
Transgender, a word that is enough to make people stop all their conversations and look at you with a wary eye. The word which most people are always ready to reject the existence of. Transsexuals were celebrated in Indian sacred texts from being an equivalent to a God’s avatar to having mystical powers granted by Lord Ram himself. But independent India in the 21st century took 63 years to finally admit that being dignified by basic human decency is not just a privilege but part of their rights.
The Transgender Persons Act was introduced in 2019, which enlisted all those rights and privileges that cis-gendered people didn’t need a rulebook to enjoy. Basic education, healthcare, employment, even a certificate identity was granted to transgender folks three years ago. Although late, this was a positive step in the right direction. Including transgender people into mainstream governmental framework would lessen the burden of them having to fight alone. They now have the support of the judicial system in their battles.
This step somewhat gave a push to repressed transgender people to finally live a normal peaceful life, although just on paper. It will still take immense collective efforts for society to accept them and welcome them with open arms. Transgender people were still pushed out of society even before they could understand what was it that was considered wrong with them. The whole community is looked down upon and even though valued as divine beings, they are most usually used and then rejected by the otherwise “traditional and religiously pious” society. The society that tries to justify placing trans people on a pedestal only for the sake of the sacred and ritualistic traditions of marriages and births and later uses the same sacred texts to condemn them from the society only goes further to show the narcissism and narrow mindedness which still has the population in its immoral grasp. This constant cycle of blatant hate and disregard has eventually left the entire community crippled.Â
Many trans folks who were lucky enough to be dealt the less harsh hand in life managed to get out of constricting swamp of insistent discrimination and impoverishment and find a safe place in life. But thousands are left still, trying to keep their head above the water in a tireless wait for better days. The first step thus would be a safe and progressive work environment for them.
The foremost hurdle in the first step of this long battle is helping transgender folks realize their skills, and work in real-time occupations that would not only help upskill them but also free them from the cruel clutches of society’s whims. The legislators might write down on pages what their vision for an equal world is, but that does not overnight change the behaviour and general perceptions of the majority of people on the lives and experiences of the transgender communities.
What we need to do is include the transgender community into normal conversations without people feeling the need to turn it right down or find it too bizarre of a topic. If we are not ready to even accept their existence, then actually progressing enough to be able to work in perfect camaraderie with them is still a distant dream. In the same sense, simply ignoring the existence of the trans folk does not magically erase their entire existence or wipe out all of their sufferings.Â
A brief conversation, just to ponder over the lives of the millions of transgender folks around the world, whose only mistake was being an individual the world could never understand. Surely, with a steady pace of these reminders, the world will learn to mend at least a part of all the wrongs and let the community heal and grow in its own space.
Reasonably, it is only when those who are more privileged agree to lend a hand to the less privileged that the world takes a baby step towards something kinder and worth living for.