Transgender community searches for a new identity

Radhika Giri
The Statesman, India

CHENNAI, Jan. 20. – Long hair decked in flowers, bodies swathed in colourful sarees, the mandatory lipstick, bindhi and bangles and the elaborate sway have traditionally identified Tamil Nadu’s aravanis.
However, this appearance may soon be a thing of the past.

The community, also known elsewhere in the country as hijras, or in modern terminology as transgender or transsexual, has always lived an ostracised existence. But they are now drawing from lessons in etiquette to enable them to reach out to a non-responsive society and find a new identity that is accepted.
“Why blame it all on society? Even we are to blame,” says Suguna, who has been a member of the aravani community for the past 20 years. Clad in a comely blue saree, Suguna can pass off for any South Indian housewife. Although they often consider themselves as members of a “third sex”, aravanis often refer to themselves as and dress as women. At the VHS auditorium in Chennai on Thursday, Suguna was one of the 35 aravanis receiving a lesson on behaviour. These women had congregated from various parts of Tamil Nadu for the third ‘Aravanigal Dinam’ (Transgender Day).
Over the past two years the tutorial has quietly covered about 30,000 transsexuals spread in seven districts. The aravanis are advised on how to behave when in the company of those outside their community, even if other people are rude. The ultimate aim is to win them over. The idea took off after a proposal by a meeting of jamaats (a jamaat is a congregation of aravanis) under the initiative of the

Tamil Nadu AIDS Initiative-Voluntary Health Services (TAI-VHS)mooted the idea of celebrating Transgender Day on 18 January...

EIGHT NEW LAWS ADVANCING LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENDER EQUALITY AND PROTECTIONS GO INTO EFFECT IN CALIFORNIA

WASHINGTON -- The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force applauds Equality California (EQCA) and legislative leaders for the record number of pro-equality laws taking effect this month in California.

With eight pro-equality laws going into effect this month, California stands head and shoulders above any other state in treating all its people equally under the law," said Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. "Thanks to the extraordinary leadership of Geoff Kors and Equality California and lesbian and gay members of the Legislature, Senators Sheila Kuehl, Christine Kehoe and Carole Migden and Assemblymember Mark Leno, tens of thousands will now have greater access to health care, discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in housing and state services will be prohibited, and the use of the pernicious, homosexual panic defense will be limited, among many other advances."

One of the most sweeping measures is the Equal Benefits in State Contracting law, which prohibits the state from contracting with businesses that do not offer equal benefits to employees with domestic partners on the same terms that benefits are offered to employees with spouses. The measure, authored by former Assemblymember and current Sen. Christine Kehoe, D-San Diego, passed during the 2003 and 2004 legislative session and took effect on Jan. 1. It was modeled after a very successful 1996 equal benefits ordinance enacted in San Francisco.

"We are excited to see this policy become state law," said EQCA Executive Director Geoff Kors, who initiated the idea of enacting an equal benefits policy in San Francisco in the 1990s. "The new law establishes the fair principle of equal pay for equal work, regardless of sexual orientation."

In addition to the equal benefits law, domestic partners in 2007 have the right to prepare their California income tax returns together. Couples can file jointly in 2008, covering the 2007 tax year. Other new laws that went into effect on Jan. 1 reduce courtroom bias against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, expand the state's nondiscrimination protections, and ensure dignity and stability for LGBT seniors.

"These new laws not only provide essential protections for the LGBT community, but they also reiterate California's commitment to treat all people equally under the law," Kors said.

The following pro-equality bills were enacted in California on Jan. 1:

Equal Benefits in State Contracting (2003)

AB 17: Assemblymember Christine Kehoe, D-San Diego

Prohibits the state from contracting with businesses that do not offer equal benefits to employees with domestic partners on the same terms that benefits are offered to employees with spouses.

State Income Tax Equity Act

SB 1827: Sen. Carole Migden, D-San Francisco

Enables registered domestic partners to file joint state income tax returns and have their earned income treated as community property.

Civil Rights Housing Act of 2006

AB 2800: Assemblymember John Laird, D-Santa Cruz

Prohibits discrimination in housing based on race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, disability and sex (including gender identity), marital status, sexual orientation, familial status and source of income.

Older Californians Equality and Protection Act

AB 2920: Assemblymember Mark Leno, D-San Francisco

Ensures that LGBT seniors are adequately served by government services available to older Californians.

Nondiscrimination in State Programs and Activities Act

SB 1441: Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica

Prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in state-operated programs.

Equality in Prevention and Services for Domestic Abuse Act

AB 2051: Assemblymember Rebecca Cohn, D-Saratoga

Creates a fund to develop and support education and services for LGBT victims of domestic violence.

Gwen Araujo Justice for Victims Act

AB 1160: Assemblymember Sally Lieber, D-San Jose

Creates jury instructions and prosecutor training to limit the use of so-called "panic strategies" to influence criminal trial proceedings.

Code of Fair Campaign Practices

AB 1207: Speaker pro Tem Leland Yee, D-San Francisco

Prohibits the use of negative appeals based on prejudice against LGBT people by candidates who sign the voluntary pledge in the Code of Fair Campaign Practices. (Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a similar bill in 2005.)

[1/16/07]

Euro trans group gets recognition

A new coalition of European transgender and transsexual Groups, TransGender Europe, received organisational recognition by the Austrian authorities this week.

The initiative brings together 66 transgender organisations from 21 countries, after they agreed to join together when meeting in Vienna last year, for the first-ever European TransGender Council. High on the list of priorities for the new organisation are the promotion of the human rights of transgender people - especially with regards to the legal recognition of the gender of trans people in the gender they live in, as well as non-discrimination in all aspects of life, equal access to healthcare, and social acceptance.