30 March,2018 06:32 AM IST | Mumbai | mid-day correspondent
On Wednesday, this paper ran a front page story about a transgender woman trying to find a flat on rent in Mumbai. Her search is fraught with problems and is unfruitful. She faces so many rejections in her hunt for a home. Several brokers retract from the deal once they see her Aadhaar card, which states her sex as transgender.
Brokers claim they genuinely wish to find her a home, but there are problems as landlords back out when they see that she is transgender. If not landlords, then flat mates are reluctant to let her in, so there are hurdles every step of the way.
While it is easy to point fingers at everybody else, the story shows that all of us have so many prejudices and are extremely ignorant about the third gender. We have been conditioned to suspect the third gender and are intimidated because we do not know enough about transgender people.
All our lives we have been used to people contained and constrained in little boxes, defined by labels and self-imposed norms or societal norms of what is acceptable and what is not. It is when we are confronted by something different or something or someone that falls outside this box, we are shaken, unable to accept it or worried what others will think if we do so.
The Lesbian Bisexual Gay and Transgender (LGBT) community faces so many problems that the doing away of Section 377 (criminalising consensual sex between two adults) will be just one drop in an ocean. It is only when attitudes change that we will see a true transformation.
In similar vein, it is upon us to broaden our horizons and show a willingness and openness to accept the different in any sphere of life. Shed ignorance and with that we do away with fear and narrow perspectives, benefiting others and ourselves, too.
Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates
