The scope of discussions on transgender issues must expand. Here's why

On October 5, Justice Siddharth Mridul of the Delhi High Court passed an exemplary judgment in the case of Shivani Bhat v State of NCT of Delhi and ors.

Bhat, a 19-year-old student at the University of California, had flown to Agra with parents in summer. But what was to be a two-week visit became a case of illegal confinement when his legal documents, phone and laptop were confiscated by his parents.

The trip, Bhat realised, had been a ruse to 'fix' him for being a transman – assigned female at birth, but identifying as a man. A window of opportunity allowed him to contact Nazariya, an NGO focusing on LBT (lesbian, bisexual and transmen) issues.

Despite trying circumstances – Nazariya activists were threatened for helping Bhat – the case went in their favour. Justice Mridul observed:

"…everyone has a fundamental right to be recognized in their chosen gender. This view is buttressed by the landmark decision of the Supreme Court in National Legal Services Authority (supra)."

The National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) judgement Mridul upheld doesn't just grant legal status to trans* people under the 'third gender' umbrella. It bars discrimination in areas of education, employment and healthcare, also pitching for third gender reservations in public educational institutions and offices.

But implementation is a whole other ball game, and so are current dialogues on transgender issues, feels Siddhant, a recruitment consultant and member-counsellor with LBT support group Umang. "General awareness about trans* issues is still limited to hijras. People just don't get that transmen also exist," says the 37-year-old. "Transmen face the double marginalisation of being biologically female in a patriarchal society. Due to this, there's greater pressure for 'a girl to stay a girl' or 'behave like one'."

Siddhant counts himself as one of the advantaged few who's even been able to transition, leave alone have support systems. "I'm not aware of how many female-to-male (FTM) transitions happen compared to male-to-female (MTF), but you at least read about the latter. How many transmen do you see in the public space?"

***

Almost 13,000km from Mumbai, Loryn Jonelis is asking the same question. A gymnastics instructor and thespian in Wisconsin, US, he identifies as a transman. "It's hard to pursue acting and not see someone like me have success, aside from Chaz Bono and Aydian Dowling," he says. "I can't think of many transmen who are public figures."

US media coverage of Chaz Bono – formerly Chastity Bono – was sensationalist, disparaging even. Compare that to the coverage of Caitlyn Jenner, Laverne Cox, Janet Mock, Lea T and others: general awareness seems to have improved over time. But what of Aydian Dowling, the first transman who recently made it to the cover of Men's Health? He's yet to get the same visibility as his transgender sisters.

However, that's not to say mainstream society embraces MTFs or transwomen either. To many, they aren't "real women". "Maybe it's the ingrained idea that even though 'she' was born a 'he', it's still seen as a man speaking," Jonelis feels.

Like Siddhant, Jonelis too counts himself privileged – on account of race. "I was raised female in a society run by white men, who have a lot of power. I look like a white teenage boy. It's not a demographic that gets harassed a lot. I don't really worry about walking alone at night."

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In the early '90s, Satya Rai Nagpaul underwent gender affirming procedures at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). His was their first FTM case.

Years later, the National Award-winning cinematographer and founder of Sampoorna, a network of trans* and intersex Indians, blogged about his journey as a transman:

"Transpersons aren't finding meaningful space within existing queer/LGBT groups. These have in fact been and are increasingly being trans-unfriendly; even transphobic... I was told by a transperson, who belongs to a lesbian support group, about what someone there told him: 'The day you reassign, you count yourself out of the group'. Yet another lesbian support group asks MTFs to cross-dress to prove their credentials for claiming membership."

There are many gender identities (hence 'trans' with an asterisk to encompass them), as seen in the extension of LGBT to LGBTQIA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual). "The trans* spectrum spans non-hijra transwomen, intersex, intergender and genderqueer people, with porous borders between some of these. Within this, transmasculine voices have emerged only recently," says Nagpaul.

Considering the gradual, but inevitable awareness about gender, it's incumbent on platforms like media to give equal footing to such voices. But collective understanding is still sorely lacking. "There's a tendency to sensationalise and be disturbingly focused on medical transition and 'before/after' pictures. There's no inclination to engage with real issues," he shares, before adding:

"A journalist once called me, saying, 'I know about hijras. Tell me about the opposite of hijras now.'"

***

A core issue affecting trans* Indians is lack of resources – both monetary and social. And the problem worsens when caste and class come into play. Sonal Giani, advocacy manager at Humsafar Trust, feels hijras have relatively stronger support in gharanas and the guru-chela system. The lack of such backing for non-hijra trans* people makes matters more difficult.

"Hijras are prominent, and with prominence comes awareness, information, peer support. Invisibility hurts because if you don't have a reference point, you may not even overcome self-stigma," she outlines.

Giani talks about how many from rural areas who approach Humsafar are unaware of what 'transgender' even means. All they know, she adds, is that they dissociate with their biological sex. "Many also feel left out since most LGBTQIA terminologies are in English. We have to extend the scope (of language) if we want widespread acceptance."

A common misconception is that all trans* people opt for gender affirming surgeries. These surgeries cost lakhs, and hormone intake may be lifelong commitments for those desiring to go the way. But not everyone can afford to change bodies if they want to – and more importantly, not everyone wants to. According to NALSA, our identity has to match the gender we self-identify with, regardless of a sex change. But this is not uniformly practiced, says Nagpaul.

"Gazette officers have returned requests by transmen, saying that without proof of 'sex reassignment', name and gender change requests won't be entertained," he shares. "And if a trans* person wants to go for only some procedures, such as mastectomy, the medical certificate is withheld, insisting that it will be issued only when the 'full' procedure is done."

***

Siddhant, from Umang, wants to file an RTI application to know why he hasn't got his passport yet. He'd applied using his new name and identified gender, providing all necessary documentation months ago. But he hasn't heard from the passport office.

It was easier for Siddhant to get his voter ID, because the Election Commission (EC) was involved in the NALSA judgment. But pillar-to-post became routine when he had to change his PAN card details. "They asked for a certificate on a government letterhead because I'd changed my sex in a private hospital. They can't do that," he points out.

The transphobia-red tape marriage is more of a chokehold for a trans* person's job prospects. Name and gender on school and college marksheets can't be changed, adding to problems during job interviews.

"It's excruciating," Siddhant says. "You don't come out once. You come out over and over and over."

***

In 2012, Argentina passed a groundbreaking law allowing trans* people to change names and sexes on official documents without medical approval. Denmark followed in 2014. As of now, these are the only countries with an official stance on gender having no correlation whatsoever to sex.

But there are efforts, however small, to sensitise parents into letting children choose the gender they identify with. Maybe it's wishful thinking to believe this can prevail in a world where everything from toys, clothes, spaces and career choices are gendered... or maybe not. As per the last national census, there are nearly 500,000 'third gender' Indians (conservative estimate). The clincher: over 55,000 in the 0-6 age group were identified as transgender by parents.

Nagpaul, Siddhant and Sonal Giani contend things are most difficult for people outside the transmen/transwomen binary – those who don't identify exclusively as man or woman, or choose to be both or neither.

One of them is South African trans* activist Dr. Eli Rosen-Gouws, who chooses the gender-neutral 'they' instead of 'him/her/he/she'. According to Rosen-Gouws, masculine-feminine conditioning at an early age contributes to much of the problem. "If I'd had access to concepts of non-binary gender as a teen, my experience would have been much less traumatic," they say. "I didn't even know there were non-binary trans* people in the world until I was in my 30s."

From Ardhanarishvara and the blurred gender of the Greek god Dionysus to Buddhist Vinaya texts chronicling multiple genders, the ancient world acknowledged trans* identities in some capacity.

It's time we did the same and left binary form to computer code.

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The GLAAD Media Reference Guide - Transgender Issues

Gender Identity: One's internal, deeply held sense of one's gender. For transgender people, their own internal gender identity does not match the sex assigned at birth. Most people have a gender identity of man or woman (or boy or girl). For some people, their gender identity does not fit neatly into one of those two choices

Gender expression: External manifestations of gender expressed through name, pronouns, clothing, haircut, behaviour, voice, or body characteristics. Society identifies these cues as masculine and feminine, although what's considered masculine and feminine changes over time and varies by culture

Sexual orientation: An individual's enduring physical, romantic and/or emotional attraction to another person. Gender identity and sexual orientation are not the same. Transgender people may be straight, lesbian, gay, or bisexual. For eg: a person who transitions from male to female and is attracted solely to men would identify as a straight woman.

For more, visit www.glaad.org/reference/transgender