Transgenders: Absorb or Abhor?

  •   Sat, Mar 26 2022
  •   By John B Monteiro

March 26, 2022

“I want to make sure that people understand that, behind this national conversation around transgender rights, there are real people who hurt when they're mocked, who hurt when they're discriminated against, and who just want to be treated with dignity and respect.” - Sarah McBride (b.1990), an American activist and politician who is the first senator of Delavare.

More than lesbians, transgenders, including students, are shunned, sought to be rejected and isolated even in educational institutions as reflected in the following news report from Bangalore But, first the report.

The High Court of Karnataka has issued notice to the Stat government on a PIL, seeking separate hostel facility for transgender students pursuing higher education. The court ordered notice to University Grants Commission and National Medical Commission on PIL filed by Dr Thrinethra Haldar Gummaraju, a transgender doctor, contending that transgender students are forced out of hostels due to harassment. The petitioner, said to be the country’s one of the first doctors from the transgender community, stated that transgender students across the state face various difficulties in accessing education and safe accommodation. The petitioner herself had experienced challenging situations as a transgender student. She said that Section 2 (A) of Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019, prohibits discrimination in educational establishments and Section 3 (g) prohibits unfair treatment in regard to rights to reside, purchase, occupy any property. She has also stated that Rule 10 of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Rules, 2020, provides for the government to create institution infrastructure, short-stay homes and separate wards in the hospitals within two years from the date of coming into force the Rules.

However, there are no specific rules framed for housing and hostel facilities for transgender students. Though the said legislation addresses inclusive education, it does not provide any measures relation to inclusive housing and hostel accommodation in higher education. One of the main reasons why transgender students are often forced to drop out of higher education is because of the harassment faced in hostels as they are not accommodated in hostels based on their gender identity but based on their sex assignment at birth. And hence are placed in opposite gender hostels, the petitioner said.

The petitioner has prayed for a direction to provide separate hostel accommodation and appropriate circulars from authority calling upon higher education institutions in Karnataka to in include in their admission and hostel forms the option for including the gender identity of student as transgender.

The subject is open to many views. What are yours? Your response is invited in the format given below (Pl. scroll down a bit) Over to You.

 

Also read:

 

 

 
By John B Monteiro
To submit your article / poem / short story to Daijiworld, please email it to news@daijiworld.com mentioning 'Article/poem submission for daijiworld' in the subject line. Please note the following:

  • The article / poem / short story should be original and previously unpublished in other websites except in the personal blog of the author. We will cross-check the originality of the article, and if found to be copied from another source in whole or in parts without appropriate acknowledgment, the submission will be rejected.
  • The author of the poem / article / short story should include a brief self-introduction limited to 500 characters and his/her recent picture (optional). Pictures relevant to the article may also be sent (optional), provided they are not bound by copyright. Travelogues should be sent along with relevant pictures not sourced from the Internet. Travelogues without relevant pictures will be rejected.
  • In case of a short story / article, the write-up should be at least one-and-a-half pages in word document in Times New Roman font 12 (or, about 700-800 words). Contributors are requested to keep their write-ups limited to a maximum of four pages. Longer write-ups may be sent in parts to publish in installments. Each installment should be sent within a week of the previous installment. A single poem sent for publication should be at least 3/4th of a page in length. Multiple short poems may be submitted for single publication.
  • All submissions should be in Microsoft Word format or text file. Pictures should not be larger than 1000 pixels in width, and of good resolution. Pictures should be attached separately in the mail and may be numbered if the author wants them to be placed in order.
  • Submission of the article / poem / short story does not automatically entail that it would be published. Daijiworld editors will examine each submission and decide on its acceptance/rejection purely based on merit.
  • Daijiworld reserves the right to edit the submission if necessary for grammar and spelling, without compromising on the author's tone and message.
  • Daijiworld reserves the right to reject submissions without prior notice. Mails/calls on the status of the submission will not be entertained. Contributors are requested to be patient.
  • The article / poem / short story should not be targeted directly or indirectly at any individual/group/community. Daijiworld will not assume responsibility for factual errors in the submission.
  • Once accepted, the article / poem / short story will be published as and when we have space. Publication may take up to four weeks from the date of submission of the write-up, depending on the number of submissions we receive. No author will be published twice in succession or twice within a fortnight.
  • Time-bound articles (example, on Mother's Day) should be sent at least a week in advance. Please specify the occasion as well as the date on which you would like it published while sending the write-up.

Comment on this article

  • mohan prabhu, n=mangalore

    Sat, Apr 02 2022

    Transgenders are among a broad category of humans that are labelled as LGBTQ, and include what in the Indian context include Hijra, eunuchs, bisexual, etc. Eunuchs that I have seen from a distance are quite a sight to look - externally manly but dress like women. They were (still are) in demand to guard Muslim women kept in harems (if such still exist in modern times). When I visited Portland, Oregon on office work, I happened along with my colleagues to land in a hotel for a small convention and in that hotel there was a big convention of Transgender people occupying three specific floors of the hotel. It was inevitable, sometimes, to take the same elevator as a bunch of LGBTQs and looking at the sight - they were manly in women's clothing, and towering size, which really frightened me.... I cannot blame ordinary human beings to take a disgust. All said and done, I believe it is right and just to accord LGBTs basic human rights on par with everyone without discrimination, but to avoid unpleasant experiences it is wise to segregate them in special hostels and other institutional structures so that no harm comes to them.


Leave a Comment

Title: Transgenders: Absorb or Abhor?



You have 2000 characters left.

Disclaimer:

Please write your correct name and email address. Kindly do not post any personal, abusive, defamatory, infringing, obscene, indecent, discriminatory or unlawful or similar comments. Daijiworld.com will not be responsible for any defamatory message posted under this article.

Please note that sending false messages to insult, defame, intimidate, mislead or deceive people or to intentionally cause public disorder is punishable under law. It is obligatory on Daijiworld to provide the IP address and other details of senders of such comments, to the authority concerned upon request.

Hence, sending offensive comments using daijiworld will be purely at your own risk, and in no way will Daijiworld.com be held responsible.