Have transgenders received  their acceptance in the Indian society?

TANUSHREE PODDAR: NP NEWS 24 ONLINE-    In 1861, under the British rule, section 377 of the penal code an act that criminalizes homosexuality was introduced.  It is referred to ‘unnatural offenses’ and says whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal should be punished with life imprisonment.

On 6th September 2018, a historic event took place after the supreme court stated that decriminalized the Section 377 of the IPC and allow gay sex among consenting adults in private. It said, “The natural identity of an individual should be treated to be essential to his being. What nature gives is natural. That is called nature within. Thus, that part of the personality of a person must be respected and not despised or looked down upon.”

The first transgender Laxmi Narayan Tripathi, is South Asia’s representative in the United Nations, to a contestant in the popular reality TV show Big Boss, and then as a petitioner in the SC case recognizing the ‘third gender’, her journey has taken a more religious turn of late.

In 2016, Tripathi became the first Mahamandaleshwar Acharya (‘High Priestess’) of the Kinnar Akhada. The 13 akhadas of saints, collectively called the Akhil Bhartiya Akhada Parishad (ABAP), have not yet accepted them into their council. However, the Ujjain-based akhadas, namely the Akhil Bhartiya Sant Samiti (ABSS), was the first to fight the male hegemony by inviting the Kinnar Akhada for their annual meeting in New Delhi in November 2018.

Tripathi’s endorsement of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya made headlines which drew much anger from sections of the community. The statement signed by more than 183 LGBTQIA+ individuals and 20 groups said that her position “negates the politics of communal harmony espoused by Hijras and Kinnars, who have historically maintained a syncretic faith of belonging to both Hinduism and Islam”. Tripathi had to face backlashes for her views.

But, 2019 has started on a high note for one community of transgender persons at a time when many are anxiously biting their nails over their fate as citizens. Passed in the Lok Sabha, the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2018 was introduced in the Rajya Sabha on 8 January.

Kinnar Akhada took their very first Devatva yatra on the streets of the recently renamed Prayagraj (Allahabad). For the first time in history, Kinnar saints of the Vedic Sanatan Dharma have been given a space at the Maha Kumbh mela this year.

But the times are a-changing. Interestingly, in 2016, BJP’s ideological parent body, the RSS, amended its stance on Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, in favor of decriminalization of same-sex relations.

And now, Congress appointed transgender activist Apsara Reddy as a general secretary of its women’s wing, making her the 133-year-old party’s first transgender office-bearer at the national level. Reddy, a well-known transgender journalist, and activist, was appointed a national general secretary of the All India Mahila Congress (AIMC) by party president Rahul Gandhi in the presence of Lok Sabha MP and AIMC chief Sushmita Dev. As a transgender woman, Reddy has been involved in social activism and also has taken up cases of child rape. Interestingly, Reddy had earlier been part of the BJP and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK).

All we can say is after striking down section 377, many transgenders are stepping forward to empower themselves while some still follow their old methods as they believe it’s ‘easy money’.