Vanakam (hello)
My name is Grace Banu
I am studying engineering
The reason for this thought to appear is
I had completed a diploma in computer engineering
After completing computer engineering, I worked in a software company for 3 years as a transgender woman.
In the beginning, I faced a lot of struggle and difficulty in getting accepted at the office.
I had to fight against this discrimination and continued to work in the office
After that, discrimination only started increasing because of my colleagues
So, I quit and when I was thinking about what I should do next
So, I thought - why don’t transgender persons have the opportunity to study
I really wanted to study further
During my diploma, I scored 95 percentage
I filed an RTI to see if there is an opportunity to study at Anna University
They replied saying that transgender persons couldn’t study because it was a government policy
Against this reply, I applied in Anna University counselling
I was expecting that they wouldn't call
But they called me for the counselling
When I went for the counselling, there were no government colleges at that time
All of the seats were in private colleges
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Because I live in Chennai
Outside Chennai, near Arakonam, in Sri Krishna College of Engineering
Which is a private engineering college, was where I got a seat
Because of that, I am continuing my studies there
Now, I travel from Chennai to Arakonam daily
It is a one and a half hour travel, morning and evening
So, I wanted to challenge this idea
that why transgender persons are not allowed to study professional courses
Transgender persons have the same talent that everyone has and I wanted to prove that
This was my motivation
The second thing is, when I was in school, I faced a lot of discrimination
Beyond the oppression of gender identity, there was the oppression of caste
Because, I am a dalit
In my school, me being a transgender person
In that gender-->non conforming age, around +2
The school started to know my identity
They discriminated against me because I am a transgender person
Adding, caste related discrimination to that
So, I was oppressed because of both these identities
If I wanted to study further in school
That is if I wanted to complete my +2, my school said that I cannot come inside the school
Suppose the school starts at 9:30 a.m., I have to come to school at 10:00 a.m.
If school finishes at 4:30 p.m., I have to go out of school at 4:00 pm
But, I couldn’t go to the classroom and study
Our Headmistress would remove slippers in a particular place
I had to sit in that place and study, there was a tree nearby, where I was supposed to sit and study
There was many restrictions and rules imposed like this
In spite of fighting against this discrimination, I was trying to study
But, the students also started discriminating me
They would point out that I was sitting in that place because of who I am
They were also asked not to talk to me
In an environment where no one spoke to me
Imagine a child that had this situation, I was extremely stressed
Because of that, I discontinued my +2 and came out of my house
Once I came out, I joined with people of my community
Through that, I joined the diploma
I took three years to complete my diploma
After that, I got selected in the campus interview
I joined the software company through that
I had to face discrimination even at work because of my identity as a transgender person
All of these experiences motivated me
to study further and gain a good place
I recognized the integral importance of education for this
All this encouraged me
(Question) When you were studying in school, did you study in a government school?
No
(Question) Private school?
Yes, Aided school
(Question) In the school, the people who discriminated belonged to what caste?
The students who discriminated, all belonged to upper caste
(Question) How many dalit students were there?
There were many dalit students
(Question) Were all of them discriminated?
(Shakes head vehemently) Everyone was not discriminated
But with me, there was also gender discrimination
Once that identity was revealed, the discrimination against the other identity also started
So, there was both caste and gender discrimination
(Question) You must have heard about Rohit Vemula in Hyderabad, many dalit students get discriminated
(Question) What can we do to bring equality in university and school spaces?
According to me
In a university base, only an oppressed person can understand another oppressed person’s pain
So, people belonging to oppressed comminutes should occupy positions of power
As in positions of higher power where they can make decisions
Only if a person belonging to an oppressed community occupies that position, then they will understand the struggle
(Question) So, they will be able to provide some sort of protection…
Yes, definitely
(Question) In the aided school, what caste were the teachers?
All of them were upper castes
(Question) In aided schools or software company jobs, do you feel like we should bring reservation?
Yes, absolutely
When I was working
When the time period where I did the surgery, I didn’t get salary
So, what would I do for food and other expenses during that time?
That is the time I had the thought
For example for a pregnant woman, she is given a salary with leave
Similarly for working transgender persons, they should also be a period during their surgery where they are given salary and leave benefits
Under the employment law for them
(Question) In Tamilnadu along with Living Smile Vidya you are fighting for transgender reservation, can you speak about that?
The way I see transgender reservation
The transgender community is an oppressed community
The effort to uplift them to the same position as others has only been happening recently
For them to completely be uplifted satisfactorily
and if they have to come out of begging, prostitution completely
I feel like reservation is a good solution
If reservation happens will all the problems be solved? Yes.
Because, reservation will act as an empowering tool to uplift the lives of transgender persons
Today, even if one has to go to a job or if one has to study
There has to be a way
They overcome many struggles and discrimination to reach a place
To make this equal, reservation will be a useful tool
Beyond that, giving them social welfare schemes like
giving idli makers, stitching machines
these welfare schemes won’t improve their quality of life
If we want the entire transgender communities quality of life to improve
The solution is reservation
Based on the issue of reservation
Living smile vidya has been voicing this since 2006
We have joined and started working with them in 2012
We are working on transgender men and transgender women having reservations in jobs and education
in Tamil Nadu where we are actively voicing this and have asked the government to consider this
We have also legally filed a case for reservation
another thing we fought for is, why transgender persons are not allowed to write government service exams?
For example, Tamil Nadu public service commission did not allow transgender persons to write the exams
We wanted to change that
We filed a case challenging that say that transgender persons should be allowed to write the exam
We got a positive judgment for that
But, the reservation case is still pending
And no judgment has come so far
But we are bringing this issue of reservation to light
(Question) In the transgender community, many people say that caste does not exist, can you speak about that?
The way I see this issue is
usually with people
like well-settled people, if you ask them if caste exists, they will definitely say caste doesn’t exist with us
Because they have not realized the pain of caste oppression
So, telling that the transgender community does not have caste
is like trying to hide a full pumpkin in rice, it’s too obvious
Every human being inherently realizes the existence of caste internally/sub-consciously
Because, even in our Indian constitution, the idea of caste has existed since the beginning
So, there is definitely caste in the transgender community
If you see the transgender community, people who are leaders
If you look at the statistics, most of the leaders belong to upper caste
The people who make money for them through begging or prostitution are almost always dalit and from oppressed communities
Saying that caste doesn’t exist is just something that is said simply without acknowledging the facts
So, everyone has this feeling of caste
If they leave prostitution or begging, many transgender persons work in NGO’s.
(Grace): Yes
(Question) How does caste play a role at these NGO’s
The acceptance that transgender people exist came first from NGO’s
And I accept that
But in these NGO’s, transgender persons who occupy high positions
most of them, as far as I know, there are no transgender persons occupying high positions
If we look at Tamil Nadu, All NGO’s work under the Tamil Nadu State Aids Control Society
If you see that place, no transgender has ever been in a position of high power in Tamil Nadu Aids Control Society
And that is a government job
So, there in higher positions there are no transgender persons
So, there is a gender discrimination and even if a transgender person occupies that place it is someone from the upper caste
And transgender person who belong to marginalized communities still work in the lower levels of NGO
Like supplying condoms and other work and they have not been given a higher position or authority
(Question)So when you are fighting for the transgender community, how will you solve this issue of caste?
In transgender reservation,
If we bring reservation for transgender people
Transgender persons belonging to the upper caste take use it
So, transgender folks who belong to oppressed communities are not able to use those reservations
So, what we are asking in the reservation under transgender community is
Like in the normal reservation, there are different critieria’s for SC/ST
So for transgender reservation, we have said there should be a demarcation based on caste
But many transgender persons have opposed this
And the transgender persons who oppose this are transgender persons who belong to the upper caste
The religious idea of Hinduism is very strong within the transgender community
Because, once you overcome the discrimination to join the transgender community
they have a lot of rituals and traditions associated with it which comes from Hindu culture
So, they are able to infuse the idea of Hinduism within the person
So, although they follow Hinduism, they say there is no caste and say they belong just to the transgender community and not to any caste
But upper caste transgender persons oppose the reservation based on caste
(Question)Who is your role model in your life?
My role model in life with respect to the transgender community is Living smile vidya
Apart from that, Ambedkar and Periyar
and their thoughts and ideologies are something I feel connected towards and look at them as my role model
(Question)What would you like to say to young transgender persons watching this video?
Please, people in the house must accept them
Apart from coming outside and fighting, you can fight inside the house also
Parents’ acceptance is a very difficult thing and I know that very well
But the reasons our parents won’t accept should be analyzed and we should be able to satisfy those reasons for them to accept us
The transgender persons who come out now are very bold
But when they come out, they should have a qualification and coming out with that qualification is better
Just to come out to prove one’s identity and then to go to other transgender persons and work in prostitution or begging should not happen
We have to understand that we can also live a dignified life
My wish is that transgender folks will keep this thought in their heart to lead a dignified life and work towards that
The opportunities to have that life are created by people like smiley and many transgender persons before her
And the acceptance of today’s transgender persons is a result of the years of struggle of so many people
So, create the opportunity and then come out as a transgender person is my advice to young transgender persons
Thank you, Jai Bhim
Jai Bhim
