“All we want is love, respect and dignity,” says Kalki Subramaniam, transgender activist, “but when it is not given to us we tend to become rebels.” Being a member of the community she advocates for, Kalki herself faced social discrimination and abuse, yet she has gone past it. She acted in the art film “Narthagi”, and she proudly announces her next project. “I have signed up for a Malayalam commercial film for the female lead role.” A transgender woman acting in a mainstream film is a positive sign, but Kalki's expedition doesn't stop here.
Sex education must
“A total positive transformation will at least take another 20 years,” she says. “The government, educationists and social activists should put an effort together and the change should start from the education system.” Kalki insists that gender and sexuality education should be part of the main syllabus in high school and college. “People are ignorant about the existence of various genders and sexuality,” she says. “And due to this, for over a century, we have undergone a lot of ill-treatment and abuse.”
Recently in the city to address a seminar on gender diversity at The American College, Kalki says, “Until a few decades back, even the Tamil films portrayed transgenders in a comical or abusive way. Certain words were publicly used to ill-treat us. Only recently, official terms like ‘Thirunangai' or ‘Aravani' have been introduced.” She feels there are still many misunderstandings about transgenders. “The belief that transgenders abduct male babies and castrate them is a myth,” she says. “Every transwoman is biologically born a male and only upon our own wish we change ourselves.”
Kalki feels the flamboyant appearance and behaviour of transwomen are an explosion of suppressed feminine feelings. “Transwomen are more independent than women. Yet we have the same feelings of a woman and we celebrate womanhood through bright makeup and colourful dressing,” she explains.
Having seen many of her friends harassed and abused, Kalki started the organization Sahodari to help, protect and guide transgenders. “We have no avenues to voice our woes. Neither the judiciary nor the police have laws to question injustice done to us,” she says. Though Tamil Nadu is far better than other states in recognizing transgenders, Kalki strongly feels that very few of the government welfare measures reach people. “The government should act as a visionary. Instead the present schemes are short-term benefits. We look at a holistic change that will bring a long-term effect in the society,” she says. Through Sahodari, Kalki ropes in student groups and social workers to spread awareness in urban and rural societies.
Many social factors burden the lives of transgender people, Kalki says. “Discrimination starts from childhood. Once a child is discovered to be a transgender even the parents neglect it. Most of them end up as school dropouts and eventually enter into begging or sex-work.”
Matrimonial website
To help mend such broken lives, Kalki started the matrimonial website ‘thirunangai.net' exclusively for transgenders a year ago. “Initially we just uploaded six profiles and got tremendous response from all over the world,” she says, “People are interested to marry transgenders but many don't want to come in open.” She also plans to start a new marriage project, Thirunangai Swayamvaram, in July. “We plan to conduct mass weddings of transgenders in a public hall.”
Making use of her master's degree in journalism and mass communication, Kalki actively involves transgender members in blogging, broadcasting, making documentary films and writing. “The mainstream media doesn't talk about our issues and the only way to make ourselves heard is by forming our own media,” she says.
“Next month, I am coming up with a Tamil transgender magazine ‘Thirunangai', which will be the first magazine to talk upon the economical, social and educational aspects of the community.” She has just one message for society. “We would like to be treated as fellow human beings with equal feelings and rights.”
BEYOND LGBT: Do you know that there are nearly 20 different types of genders other than male and female? Gender activist John Marshall, director of the LGBT group Srishti, explains. “Generally the terms gender, sexuality and sex are taken to be the same. But they all mean different things,” he says. “Sex is a biological definition and gender is the self identity and also the sociocultural and behavioural perception, while sexuality refers to the sexual attraction towards a particular sex.”
Referring to various indications of alternative sexuality in the scriptures, John says, “Alternative gender or sexuality is not unnatural. It's very much natural like the usual man and woman genders and heterosexuality.” He says that even within the mainstream LGBT community, the existence of these many genders is largely unknown. “Some forms of genders don't even have a proper word in the dictionary and we have coined terms both in Tamil and English for a few,” he says.
To encourage people to come out, John started the group Srishti two years ago and now the group's online page teems with over 400 members from various parts of the state. “Our aim is to help people be open about their preferences. We motivate their talents in arts and science through seminars, workshops and counselling sessions,” says John. Srishti works in the smaller cities. Rather than use western concepts like pride parades, the members use cultural references more suited to the region.
There are still many misconceptions about LGBT people, he says. “Our objective is to change the view and notions of the society. We work as a resource centre for many to know about alternative gender and sexuality.” Srishti plans to publish a book on the various types of gender. “The book will be the first of its kind in Tamil and will have explanation on all kinds of sexualities and genderqueers,” he says, “We are also in the process of making a website for Srishti and it will help people to stay connected and work progressively.”
