To kill the transgender in the name of Protection of Transgender Rights Bill-2016

Protection of Transgender Rights bill-2016

The lives of transgender people are destroyed in the name of  Protection of Transgender Rights bill-2016 under the fascist Government of India. In order to amend the bill that projects transgender community as criminals, several protests took place across Tamil Nadu last year. A group of us also met members of the Parliamentary committee and ministers (including ministers from TN) in New Delhi to explain the status of livelihood and submitted a draft bill that was created by our own community members.  After analyzing our draft, the Committee suggested (Central Social Justice Authoritative) to provide reservation in education and employment for us. It was strictly mentioned in the statement to provide the reservation.  But nothing close to the statement or any matters relating to the rights and reservation of transgender community are mentioned in the meaningless bill that is to be passed by the saffron army in next session of the Parliament (December 2017). It will not be a surprise even if the bill that threatens to wipe out the lives of transgender community is passed overnight.

In the bill, it is said that a transgender is a person who is not completely man/woman or half male and half female or any child born with both male and female genitals, thus categorizing us in absurd ways keeping in mind Lord Arthanaatheeswarar, a prominent deity of saffron army. Though we have explained innumerous times, even submitted fact sheets about the anatomical functions of our body scientifically, the Central Government is insanely thrilled about citing us as ‘half male’.

I am not tired to embark on the anatomical functions of our body to educate and enlighten the insanely thrilled Central Government. So, I am going ahead to explain in the essay below, one more time.

NIRVAN

(Traditional Procedure to change Gender within Transcommunity)!

The critical process through which we shred away shades of our birth gender and recreate ourselves within the gender we internally are, is NIRVAN or being nude. Being nude isn’t about undressing of clothes but about sexuality. We drench in blood, in this Nirvan and most often wreck ourselves to death. Yes! Our sexuality is higher than our lives. Many of our ancestors have lost their lives for our ‘nude ritual’ in the past in the absence of  medical or surgical treatment. But we will resort to nude again and again and again. We want to assert that our sexuality is higher than our lives. When we had to strip the woman stuck in a male’s body (surge the genital or transform) to bury the male and blossom as a whole new woman at the cost of our lives, it sets fire to our souls. It is heights of stupidity to identify us as half male or half female as said by the Central Government. We are not partial male/female.  We do not function on both genders. We are one gender after ritual of Nirvan! And that is ‘transgender’. That is why we plead the Central government to “discard its stupid fictional sentiments of Lord Arthanaatheeswarar.”

WE ARE NOT ARTHANAATHEESWARAR.

WE ARE HUMAN.  

DO NOT IMPOSE YOUR FICTIONAL CHARACTERS ON OUR LIVES.

The next thing the bill says is that a new transgender should not be supported by another transgender. What on earth has made these people to come to such an illogical conclusion? We are people discriminated by our families, society and the Government. So, for us our transcommunity is our family, our society and the Government for us. It is our home! Given this, the new bill has planned to curb our survival by stopping us from living together, from seeking alms and cage us inside refugee homes of Swacch Bharat.

Central Government sounds too authoritative here, ‘Do not neglect or deny education and employment opportunities to transgender’. They think we will be reveling in their concern for us, but NO! All we want is reservation, because throughout history we have seen the changes reservation has brought into  the lives of socially discriminated and marginalized communities. Based on that we fight for reservation for our education and employment. The Government is moving us to hopeless promises but doesn’t hear us for reservation.

Photo Courtesy : Project Mukti

Another weird statement made by the Government: Transgenders must be stopped from begging immediately. 70 years of independent India had looted our tax money that was got only from begging, no alternative employment was suggested except portraying us as criminals. Bravo! saffron painted Digital India! Bravo!!!

To the Central Government,

What we seek is not alms, we seek our rights!

Until we receive our rights, the voices of begging trans genders, lowered arms seeking alms shall shout out loud!

GIVE US OUR RESERVATION RIGHTS.

GIVE US OUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS.

Tamil to English translation by Kiruthika, a sociology student in madras university

Proof reading by kavithamuralitharan
Edited by Project Mukti