Akkai Padmashali | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | |
| Occupations |
|
| Awards | Karnataka Rajyotsava Award |
Akkai Padmashali is an Indian transgender activist, motivational speaker, and singer. For her work in activism, she has received the Rajyotsava Prashasti, the second highest civilian honor of the state of Karnataka, and an honorary doctorate from the Indian Virtual University for Peace and Education. [1] [2] [3] [4] She is also the first transgender person in Karnataka to register their marriage. [5]
Padmashali is from Bangalore. [6] Her father was in the airforce and her mother is a homemaker. Padmashali tried her best to conform to her assigned male gender role, culminating in a suicide attempt at the age of 12. Gradually, she disclosed to her brother about her gender identity. While travelling to school, she would watch trans women near Cubbon Park, Bangalore and she wanted to be like them. [7] She spoke in an interview about how her parents would get angry and chide her every time she used to wear her sister's clothes or play with girls, which resulted in making her childhood a really confused one. [6] It was her brother who tried to convince their parents, who refused to understand and accept the way she is. They would take her to doctors and other specialists. Padmashali had to drop her studies after tenth grade. Later, she was forced to go into sex work, which she continued for four years. That's when she got in touch with other transgender persons and was able to empathize with their experiences. [1]
In an interview, Padmashali said, "I did not choose to become an anti-social element or unwanted person to the society. My fight was for 'Acceptance and Social Inclusion', for the transformation and the discrimination against biological sex which was with me since birth." Padmashali, in the company of other trans persons, realized that government policies weren't in favor of the transgender community and they face harsh inequality on various circumstances. [7]
On 1 November 2017 when former US President Barack Obama came for his visit to India, Akkai Padmashali was the first trans woman to be invited to be a part of the Town Hall. She had been invited to the White House prior to this in 2015, but at that time she could not attend. [8]
She is the first transgender person in the country who got a driving license stating her gender as female. Padmashali was also invited by the President of India to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the CJI of India. She is married to her long time partner, Vasu, a trans man. Padmashali is the first transgender person in Karnataka to register their marriage in Karnataka. [7] [9]
Padmashali started her career of activism at Sangama, an LGBT Right group based out of Bangalore where she was motivated to inspire many more minds. Since then she has been fighting a battle for ensuring dignity and rights of transgender persons as well sexual minority. [6] [10] She felt that the draconian law of Section 377 of Indian Penal Code should be abolished, because she had been abused and violated by police on multiple occasions under this law. [11] Police, in multiple instances would force sex from transgender persons or threaten, malign or abuse them. She founded the organization named ‘Ondede’, [7] a human rights organization to advocate the rights of children, women and sexual minorities.
Padmashali has filed a petition in the Supreme Court of India against Section 377 stating that the colonial law is violative of the constitutional rights as well as the 2014 NALSA judgment. [12] [13] She was against the Centre's proposed Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill 2017. In an interview, Padmashali said that she would prefer being called a woman, not a trans woman.[ citation needed ]
Padmashali has spoken out about the impacts of gentrification in Bangalore on sex workers and the LGBT community, specifically the increased prices, criminalization, and barred entry to public spaces such as Cubbon Park. [14]
In the Indian subcontinent, hijra are transgender, intersex, or eunuch people who live in communities that follow a kinship system known as guru-chela system. They are also known as aravani, aruvani, and jogappa. The term is used in Pakistan as khawaja sira, the equivalent of transgender in the Urdu language.
The Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDoR), also known as the International Transgender Day of Remembrance, has been observed annually from its inception on November 20 to memorialize those who have been murdered as a result of transphobia. The day was founded to draw attention to the continued violence directed toward transgender people.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Pakistan face legal and social difficulties compared to non-LGBT persons. Pakistani law prescribes criminal penalties for same-sex sexual acts. The Pakistani Penal Code of 1860, originally developed under the British Raj, criminalises sodomy with possible penalties of prison sentences from two years to a life sentence and fines. Despite its illegality, homosexual acts are only occasionally prosecuted by authorities in Pakistan. Other morality and public order provisions in the Penal Code are however used to target LGBT Pakistanis.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in India have been reformed significantly during the 21st century. Indian LGBT citizens still face social and legal difficulties not experienced by non-LGBT people.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights in Tamil Nadu are the most progressive among all states of India. Tamil Nadu was the first state in India to introduce a transgender welfare policy, wherein transgender individuals can access free gender affirmation surgery in government hospitals and various other benefits and rights. The state was also the first to ban forced sex-selective surgeries on intersex infants, and also the first state to include an amendment in its state police guidelines that expects officers to abstain from harassing the LGBTQIA+ community and its members. The state also became the first to ban conversion therapy as well as the first to introduce LGBTQIA+ issues in school curricula.
India's LGBTQ culture has recently progressed in its cities due to the growing acceptance of the LGBTQ community in urban India in the 21st century.
Kalki Subramaniam is a transgender rights activist, artist, actress, writer, inspirational speaker and entrepreneur from Tamil Nadu. She is also the southern region representative and member of the National Council for Transgender Persons in India.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Kerala face legal and social difficulties not experienced by non-LGBT persons. However, Kerala has been at the forefront of LGBT issues in India after Tamil Nadu. It became one of the first states in India to establish a welfare policy for the transgender community and in 2016, proposed implementing free gender affirmation surgery through government hospitals. Same-sex sexual activity has been legal since 2018, following the Supreme Court ruling in Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India. In addition, numerous LGBT-related events have been held across Kerala, including in Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram. However, there is also increasing opposition to LGBT rights recently as evidenced by the anti-LGBT campaigns spearheaded by meninist groups and Muslim organisations like Indian Union Muslim League, Samastha and Jamaat-e-Islami.
A Revathi is a Bangalore-based writer and activist working for LGBT rights in India. She is a trans woman and member of the Hijra community.
The 2016 Rajyotsava Awards ceremony took place at the Ravindra Kalakshetra on 1 November 2016. Awarded annually by the government of Karnataka, the ceremony saw 61 individuals being awarded for achievements in various fields. The number was chosen to mark the 61st anniversary of the formation of the State of Karnataka.
Sandhya Mendonca is an Indian writer, author, biographer, editor and publisher. Born in Bengaluru (Bangalore) in the state of Karnataka, India, she gained a BA in Economics, Political Science & Sociology from St. Joseph's College of Arts & Science and an MA in Political Science specialising in International Relations from Bangalore University. She has a Diploma in Public Relations from the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. She lives in Bengaluru.
Living Smile Vidya, or Smiley, is an Indian actress, assistant director, writer, and trans and Dalit rights activist from Chennai.
Grace Banu is an Indian software engineer who is a Dalit and transgender activist. She was the first transgender person to be admitted to an engineering college in the state of Tamil Nadu. She lives in the Thoothukudi district, Tamil Nadu.
Bengaluru Namma Pride March is a queer pride march that is held annually in the city of Bengaluru in Karnataka, India, since 2008. The march is organised by a coalition called Coalition for Sex Workers and Sexuality Minority Rights (CSMR). The pride march is preceded by a month of queer related events and activities
Shreegauri (Gauri) Sawant is a transgender activist from Mumbai, India. She is the director of Sakhi Char Chowghi that helps transgender people and people with HIV/AIDS. She was featured in an ad by Vicks. She was made the goodwill ambassador of Election Commission in Maharashtra.
The Transgender Persons Act, 2019 is an act of the Parliament of India with the objective to provide for protection of rights of transgender people, their welfare, and other related matters. The act was introduced in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament, on 19 July 2019 by the Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment, Thawar Chand Gehlot, in light of the lapse of the Transgender Persons Bill, 2018. The 2019 act and the immediately preceding 2018 bill, were both preceded by a 2016 version. They were met with protests and criticism by some transgender people, lawyers, and activists in India. The 2016 bill was sent to a standing committee which submitted its report in July 2017. Following this, the Lok Sabha tabled and passed a newer version of the bill in December 2018. However, it did not incorporate many of the committee's recommendations. Although members of the opposition criticised the 2019 act and assured activists that they would not vote in favour of it, it was passed by the Lok Sabha on 5 August 2019 and by the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament, on 26 November 2019. The president assented to it on 5 December 2019, upon which the act was published in the Gazette of India. It has been in effect since 10 January 2020 following a notification of the same in the Gazette on the same day.
Naaz Joshi is India's first transgender international beauty queen, a trans rights activist and a motivational speaker.
Kanaka Murthy was an Indian sculptor, working primarily in stone. She received several awards in India for her work, including the Jakanachari Award in 2011, and the Rajyotsava Award in 1996. A number of her sculptures were commissioned and installed in public places in India, particularly in temples for worship, as well as public installations in the city of Bengaluru. She also wrote several books about Indian art and sculpture.
Vyjayanti Vasanta Mogli is an Indian transgender activist, RTI activist, singer and motivational speaker. She intervened in the “Suresh Kumar Kaushal & Other vs Naz Foundation & Others” case in the Supreme Court in 2014 in which she highlighted the deleterious effects of conversion or reparative therapy on queer people through her affidavit.
Sruthy Sithara is an Indian model and actress who won Miss Trans Global 2021. Born in Vaikom, Kerala, Sithara experienced gender dysphoria growing up, but embraced her transgender identity and came out after college. Sithara was one of four transgender people in the employment of the Government of Kerala, working in their Social Justice Department.