Gender is not a word that comes often in their conversations. But Nazrin Banu and Nazir Mohammed are acutely aware of the role that gender has played in their current plight.
Facing opposition and harassment from Nazrin’s family for her relationship with Nazir, a transman, both of them decided to flee to Kerala from their home town, Chennai.
Sitting at the office of the Oasis Cultural Society, a collective of transgender people in Thiruvananthapuram, which has given them shelter, the couple recounted the troubles that they had to go through.
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“I had taught Nazir’s younger brother at a local institution. At that time, Nazir was still identified as a woman, although he had some characteristics of a man. We were friends initially.
“Then one of my professors warned me against speaking to him. She informed my parents too. That was when it all started.
“The opposition from the family and society further brought us together. Slowly, he began to identify himself as a man and we also fell in love,” says 21-year-old Nazrin, who is now pursuing her B.Ed. in Special Education.
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Nazir, 23, who had a job with a private company, had to soon leave that job, facing taunts from colleagues, after he identified himself as a man.
He later got a temporary job in a restaurant.
“I was branded as a prostitute by her family. They came to the street in which my family lives and spread stories about me. Then they filed a case against me,” says Nazir.
Nazrin had by then left her home to stay at a hostel, after being pressurised by her family to get married.
Harassment case
Later, she approached the police and filed a case against her family accusing them of harassment.
Having heard about the support system for transgender people in Kerala, they decided to shift to the State temporarily until the issues back home settles down.
Here, they got in touch with the activists of Oasis, who are planning to approach the State Human Rights Commission with the matter.
“My family’s problem is that I am in a relationship with a transgender person. Why shouldn’t I be?
They too have emotions like everyone else. They too are humans,” says Nazrin.