WARANGAL: Apart from several health complications, the transgender people are facing various kinds of problems in social life. Alongside social stigma, discrimination, maltreatment, poverty, unemployment and homelessness, they are also facing a lot of verbal and physical abuse on a daily basis.
One whose gender at birth differs from the normal males and females is called transgender. Three types of transgender people are present in the society, namely the transgender man who has male gender identity and a female birth-assigned sex; the transgender woman who has female gender identity and a male birth-assigned sex; and, the third is a non-transgender person who may be referred to as cisgender, who is identified neither as male nor female.
Sweety, a transgender, told Deccan Chronicle that the needs of the third gender people are totally different from those of the normal people. Their expenses are different from those of normal people. Normal people avoid offering jobs to the transgenders even though many of these are educated and skilled.
“House owners collect double rent from transgender people. When we travel in an auto, they collect more money from us, saying that others do not share the remaining seats in the auto carrying transgenders. Many of us are dependent on begging and some become sex workers to earn their livelihood,” she said.
The state adviser for the Telangana transgender community (TTC) EV Srinivas Rao said that as per a recent survey, around 70 per cent of the transgender people experienced malstreatment in the society. They have been refused care and protection from their own near and dear ones.
Apart from this, they face enormous health disparities, including staggering rates of HIV infection, lack of primary health care, medically necessary transition and high rates of attempted suicide to escape from social stigma.
“The government must take necessary steps to improve the socio-economic status of the community by conducting various awareness programmes for different sections of people in the society to understand their problems and stop ill-treating them.”
Taking care of the overall wellbeing of transgenders is the need of the hour, he observed.
Notably, the Telangana government established a transgender welfare board and issued GO-21 on August 19, apart from allocating a fund of `2 crore for it. The government also assured the transgender people that along with providing all kinds of medical equipment required for sex re-assignment surgeries in government hospitals, it would establish rehabilitation centres and provide them financial assistance as also coaching in vocational training.
TTC president Laila and a member of the transgender welfare board told Deccan Chronicle, “The state government must consider us as a special category and provide reservations in employment and education. We must also be issued white ration cards (for free ration) and aadhar cards.”
“Many of us are shelterless and facing hardships. We are unable to earn money required for our daily needs. We urge the government allot double bedroom houses and sanction a monthly pension of Rs 3,000 to all transgender people so that they can stop begging and lead a respectable life in the society,” she said.
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