Meera Sanghamitra
LAWYER AND TRANS AND DALIT RIGHTS ACTIVIST
“It is not the transgender community but society that needs to come out”, says Meera Sanghamitra, a proud trans woman, lawyer, and social justice activist. Meera knew from the age of six that she felt like a woman, draping her mother’s sari and getting photos clicked. But it was only at the age of 25, after years of negotiating with her body, that she formally came out to her mother and the world. In this transitional journey, her mother’s support was her biggest asset. Meera is the convener at the National Alliance of People’s Movement, a pan-India collective of mass movements for marginalised communities, and is associated with the Telangana Hijra Intersex Transgender Samiti. She believes that intervention should take place at a young age and children should be given the freedom to choose their expessions instead of having to conform to gendered societal norms. This way, the discomfort, confusion, and trauma that trans children face will ease out while also enabling an environment of equality and inclusivity.
Alok Vaid-Menon
AUTHOR, SPEAKER, AND ACTIVIST
A quick look at Alok’s Instagram feed and you will be stunned at their vision of a post-gender world. They identify as a non-binary, trans feminine person, and are an artist who employs poetry, drag, fashion, and more, to subvert all norms that society imposes—whether of gender, race, or body diversity. Alok grew up in a small, white town in Texas and lived in fear of showcasing their true self. Declaring themself a sexual minority, when they were already a racial minority, would only have added to the bullying. Living in isolation, they developed their art practice out of desperation, more as a means to cope, than as a means to create. Today, their being is activism. Their rules are no rules.
Their latest book, Beyond The Gender Binary, on one end, chronicles their experiences growing up in these circumstances, and on the other, responds to common notions about trans and gender non-conforming people. “Gender,” as they say, “is a story, not a word”.
Laxmi Narayan Tripathi
TRANS RIGHTS ACTIVIST, SPEAKER, AND ACTOR
One of the most prominent activists in the country, Laxmi Narayan Tripathi was assigned as ‘male’ at birth. Repeatedly abused by distant relatives and acquaintances, and jeered at for her femininity, she grew up thinking she was gay. But when Laxmi was introduced to the hijra community, she felt one with them and announced her allegiance. She joined Ashok Row Kavi in the fight against Section 377 and came out to the world on national television. Because of the perceived class difference, Laxmi lost friends from both her drag and gay communities after coming out as a hijra.
A Bharatanatyam dancer and choreographer, human rights activist, and an international speaker, Laxmi was the first transgender person to represent Asia Pacific in the UN President’s Office Civil Society Task Force on HIV/AIDS. Her activism has taken diverse forms—from canvassing for the legalisation of the third gender and demanding the government to include hijras in its National AIDS Control Programme, to upending years of invisibility and marginalisation the community has faced by starring in reality TV shows such as Bigg Boss and Sach Ka Saamna, and chronicling her life in her autobiography, Me Hijra, Me Lakshmi.
Dutee Chand
THLETE
A champion on the track and in life, Dutee Chand is not only one of the fastest female athletes of India to have represented the country at international platforms, but also the first Indian athlete to have come out publicly as lesbian. She kept her relationship under wraps and only announced her sexuality in 2019, after Section 377 was annulled. Hailing from a small weaver’s community in Odisha, Dutee’s coming out was met with hostility and wrath from her village while her family threatened to disown her. Despite the backlash, she maintained her stance. Love and the freedom to choose whom to love cannot
