Saturday, April 14, 2012
‘We deserve a home too’
While a beauty pageant queen in Canada is making headlines for being transgendered and taking on Donald Trump, the grim prospects of our very own city queens is touching.
Kalki, a dancer and actor who even starred in a movie titled Narthaki, was refused a rental property because of her sexuality. Kalki who now lives like a woman was turned away, leaving her totally disillusioned.
This apparently isn’t the first time the inspirational speaker is being turned down. “Since 2008, when I first moved to this city from Kerala, I have faced a lot of traumatic times. People sometimes can be polite when they refuse but some others are blatantly insulting.”
She adds, “I found a special home in the US With all the work that I have done in India, US government honoured me and invited me for a fellowship. The irony is, in my own country I get treated like a second class citizen, where as a foreign government was instilling dignity and respect.”
Kalki, who now lives in Auroville in Pondicherry says, “I had to move out of town as people are too judgmental when it comes to seeing transgender women in the right light. Sunil Menon, a gay rights activist, says, “This problem persists mainly for the transgender folks, when it comes to a gay couple, identity can always been kept a secret. Also, the old school ideology that has many thinking that all transgenders are still only sex-workers might be the prime reason.
But for sure, our country needs is a concrete law that would render justice to this sect, whether it is lesbians, gays, bisexuals or transgender. But in this case you cannot force anyone to rent their house to you just because you have the money to pay. There in is the ambiguity and it's sad.”
Magdalene Jeyarathnam, director of Chennai’s East West Center for Counselling, says, “It’s just unfair and a stringent law to prevent discrimination is the key. One must have application forms complete with a reference checking process.
If one ticks all the boxes, no one should deny eligible tenants a home. People should just dart back to history and it will demonstrate that the gay culture existed right from the beginning and we need to adopt a more familiar stance than a hard-line approach.”
Elaborating on the legal implications with respect to such occurrences Lawyer Venkatesh, explains, “Legally, the house owner has all rights to rent or not.”
In the interim while the debate continues, Kalki has planned to write to the Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and the Social Welfare ministry to have a dialogue with the disadvantaged groups in the city
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
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| Indian transsexual brides go online | ||||||
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The transsexuals in India have gone high-tech in search of their soul mates by creating their own website. The site, a brainchild of Kalki, a well-educated transsexual-turned-social activist from Tamilnadu, is aimed at finding life partners for more than 20,000 transsexuals living in discrimination and extreme poverty in India. Relating her friend's bad experience in finding possible suitors, Kalki adds, "I?ve decided to launch this website after two of my friends were rejected by other online matrimonial sites just because they are transgendered." She claims lot of men are interested in transsexuals, but are too afraid to commit. "Men are attracted to transsexuals and fall in love with us as much as they are attracted to biological women," Kalki says in the site www.thirunangai.net. "In many ways, we are no different from biological women. In fact, we celebrate the women in us more than biological women do." "It's just that we can't have biological children. But we can always adopt." In order to protect their members, Kalki and her cohorts have set stringent selection process for their potential grooms. "We?re looking for men who believe in equality; men who respect us and are not ashamed to introduce us to their family as their girlfriend or their wife," she concludes. | ||||||
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Miss India Transgender Contest
The country’s first-ever Miss India Transgender contest — at the city’s Hotel Vijay Park — also saw candidates vying for titles for the most beautiful hair, eyes, skin and walk.
A relatively short Mumbaikar in her 20s won the Miss India title. Kareena Shalini, dressed in a pink sleeve-less gown, didn’t blink one second when she replied in Hindi to a crucial question from the jury of tele-serial artistes and transgender contestants from earlier regional-level shows. “I’ll not only protect the person, but would also ensure she got out of the trouble,” the wheatish-complexioned transgender said in a deep-throated voice, when asked if she would give refuge to a transgender who is a murderer.
The runner-up, Mani pur’s Thokcho Rockyson Romi, spoke in English, while the second runner-up Padmini, was a Tamil with a bigger build and almost in her 30s. The thrill at the tastefully lit up basement was palpable as 800-odd trans-genders, largely led by various NGOs, gathered to cheer the candidates in a bid to boost the entire community’s self-esteem.
Most contestants at the event, organised by the Indian Community Welfare Organisation with the support from TANSACS, UNAIDS and ACTIONAID, aired views about uplift, fighting for their rights, job opportunities and prospects of gaining power.
Many at the gathering, as ICWO’s A J Hariharan too agreed, felt this pageantry would go a long way in fighting the stigma they faced in society.