There is a man, woman and then there’s us… God has made us like this, God has made us differently,” says Dhananjay Chauhan, a transwoman, while recalling her journey from being born as Dhan Singh to assuming her true identity.

As the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) community of India is no longer invisible as it was once, Dhananjay, a transgender activist and a student of PhD at the Centre for Human Rights and Duties, Panjab University is now fighting to create more opportunities for the community.

“The change has just begun and we still have a long way to go…,”says Dhananjay, who became the first transgender student in PU in 2016.

“At present, there are three transgender students in PU and we are hopeful that more will enroll themselves after listening to our stories,” she tells while sitting besides Vishipreet, another transgender student of PU.

Transgender is an umbrella term for persons whose gender identity, gender expression or behavior does not conform to that typically associated with the sex to which they were assigned at birth.

For Dhananjay, who was once married to a woman and even had two kids, identifying as a transwoman did not come easy for her.

Donning a saree confidently today, Dhananjay, 50, says, “The transformation was the most challenging part. The journey was very complicated and difficult for almost four decades and I finally mustered the courage to make the switch and assume my true identify in 2013.”

 “I was born as a male and became a woman by choice. Parents are supportive now but due to societal pressures, took a lot of time to accept my decision,” she tells.

While she does not shy away from speaking on most of the issues, she is still apprehensive about bringing her family into the story for fear of harassment and embarrassment.

“My wife was supportive… My children are adults now and accept me the way I am. They will get married one day and sometimes, I feel worried about how the society will accept a transgender parent,” says Dhananjay, with a worried look on her face.

While her journey to an authentic self was challenging in the 21st century India, Dhananjay has now become a prominent transgender activist and was even invited to meet Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during his visit to India last year.

Dhananjay now speaks at various events to raise the issue of equality for transgenders and is also focusing on helping other transgenders to being their authentic self and become economically independent.

“There are still many myths about transgenders or Hijras and intersex. Transgenders are perceived to be sex workers, which is not true. People often come to me with questions related to gender identity, sex and sexual orientation,” she says while emphasizing the need of gender-sensitisation sessions across disciplines in the educational institutions.

“In the past, I was asked to accompany the community for ‘Badhai’ tradition.

 I am not against anyone or their ‘Badhai’ tradition but I choose to educate myself, become independent and encourage others like me to follow the same path,” says Dhananjay, with a calm and self-satisfied smile.

“Unfortunately, our community is less concerned about education and just wants to continue the ‘Badhai’ tradition. They still feel insecure that if people like us study and get jobs, the ‘Badhai’ tradition will end,” she adds.

The decades old practice of ‘Badhai’ involves the members of Hijra community dancing, singing and giving blessings during occasions like the birth of a child or a marriage to earn money. It is rare that an Indian would risk not getting the blessings of Hijras for the newly-married couple or newborn children in their family.

After years of discrimination, the majority of transgender are forced to either beg or adopt the practice of ‘Badhai’ to earn a living since they are barred from most employment opportunities in the country.

Vishipreet, 21, a transgender student pursuing B.Sc. at the UIFT (University Institute of Fashion Technology) says, “She was told to leave the home when she decided to assume the identity of a woman.”

“At that time, my parents were worried about the future of my other two siblings. But now, they have begun to understand. To get a space for living, I spent some time at the dera (transgender commune) of Sector 26 and even, accompanied them for the custom of ‘Badhai’ once,” she tells.

“Somehow, I could not connect with the entire idea of ‘Badhai’ tradition and felt uncomfortable.

I was determined to live a life of dignity and decided to enroll in the University and educate myself to get good job opportunities in the future. Finding an accommodation was another challenge for me. I live in a PG accommodation now,” she says adding that she was named as Vishal at birth by her parents.

About her current situation and plans for the future, Vishipreet says, “I have been rejected quite a few times during part-time job interviews for being a transgender.

Though I am aware that getting a job in the future will also be a difficult task, I am ready to fight and struggle to achieve what I have dreamt of…”

It was in the year 2014 that the Supreme Court had created the “third gender” status for the transgender community and later in 2018, the Apex Court had in a historic judgement scrapped Section 377 of the Indian penal code, legitimizing same-sex relationships in the country.

While the law has changed, the attitude and behavior of the society has not and the stigma around transgender identity still persists.

With lack of support from families, many of them face bullying, harassment and discrimination and to avoid the same they often drop out of the educational institutions. Discrimination in employment also runs rampant with no policies in place to ensure job opportunities and a healthy workplace environment for transgenders in the country.

According to a recent survey of almost 400 LGBT students by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in the country (Tamil Nadu state), more than half had skipped classes to avoid bullying, while a third of them dropped out of school ultimately. Threats of rape, groping, hitting and kicking, being locked in a room, having their belongings stolen and having nasty rumours spread about them were the forms of bullying that affected the LGBT students.

Both Dhananjay and Vishipreet say that harassment and bullying was common earlier but things have changed now as people in the University know them. Sometimes, the new students pass distasteful comments and laugh but we choose to ignore such things, they say.

Back in the year 1993, when Dhananjay had an identify of a male- Dhan Singh, she had to leave a course in less than a month in the University due to constant bullying and harassment.

“I used to dress like a male back then but people knew that I was different. I was bullied, beaten up and sexually harassed, after which I decided to leave two courses I had enrolled in PU,” she tells.

“After more than two decades, I had returned to the PU with my true identity of a transgender. I don’t want to hide anymore… People ask me a lot of questions about sexual orientation and sex readjustment surgery and now, I am making efforts to ensure sensitization of such issues. It may take years or even decades to make people understand our true identity but we have to begin the sensitization process,” she says.

Notably, it was after Dhananjay’s relentless efforts that the PU had decided to provide separate toilet for transgender community and also, waived off their fees. But, she feels that a lot needs to be done to ensure equality for transgenders.

For empowering the transgender community, Dhananjay and Vishipreet feel, “There should be public toilets for transgenders in Chandigarh, sensitization programmes, free sex readjustment surgery, separate accommodation or hostel for transgender in PU, shelter home in the city, special provision for availing bank loans, quota in jobs, helpline number, special provision for changing the name, gender and address on various certificates or identity cards.”

The urban city of Chandigarh, which witnessed the seventh edition of annual feature- Garvotsav, a pride walk  this year in March with the LGBT community flaunting their peculiarity to the world, still has a long way to go in building a society with equality.

According to the 2011 census, there is a population of 142 transgenders in the city.

Dhananjay, who is also a member of the UT Transgender Welfare Board says, “Nothing much has been done after the constitution of this Board in 2017 in Chandigarh. While Haryana Government is working on introducing a transgender welfare policy after taking our inputs, the higher authorities in Chandigarh are yet to come up with such welfare initiatives for the community.”

Emphasizing the need of sensitizing people about the community, she says, “The Administration should involve the LGBT community in various fairs and festivals organized throughout the year in Chandigarh. We have been organizing the pride walk every year but more needs to be done with the support of the government.”

Unfortunately, the government’s attitude towards the transgenders appears more or less hypocritical.

Even as the Supreme Court had struck down Section 377, decriminalizing homosexuality, India had recently choose to abstain from voting at the UN Human Rights Council on a resolution seeking to renew the mandate of independent expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI).

Not only this, the controversial provisions under Transgender Rights Bill 2019 drafted by the Union Government have drawn criticism from various quarters.

Prof. Aswini Kumar Nanda, Population Research Centre, CRRID (Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development) says, “Under the Transgender Rights Bill 2019, the penal provision for sexual assault against a transgender person is imprisonment for a period of minimum six months or maximum two years only.

This is itself discriminatory. In other cases, the sexual assault is punishable by imprisonment for no less than seven years and maximum of life imprisonment.”

“The Union Government has no latest data related to the transgender population. How can the government make policies for the transgender community, when it does not even know the real problems that the community has been dealing with…,” he adds.

On the issue of providing financial assistance to the transgender community, Panjab University, Dean Students’ Welfare (DSW), Prof Emanuel Nahar, says, “Last year, we had written to the Chandigarh Administration and the Union Government to provide financial assistance for the education of transgender students. But we did not get any response from them.”

 “In PU, we have waived off the fees of transgender students, set up a separate washroom for the community and constituted a committee to ensure accommodation for them in the campus.

All other educational institutions should also introduce such provisions to ensure healthy learning environment for the transgender students,” Prof Nahar says.

On society’s attitude towards the trans people, he says, “As far as Chandigarh is concerned, the attitude of the people towards transgenders have changed and acceptability has increased.”

Dhananjay Chauhan, while commenting on the provisions of Transgender Rights Bill 2019, says “The punishment for sexual assault against a transgender for a maximum of two years only is really disappointing. This will not act as a deterrent to stop the cases of sexual assault of transgenders.”

“Also, there should be provisions related to accommodation, marriage equality, child adoption, reservation in educational institutions and jobs for us.

 Unfortunately, these issues have been ignored in the Bill. However, we are hopeful that the government would work towards ensuring basic facilities for the transgender community,” she says.

 “As the sun shine equally for everyone, we hope that our lawmakers and the society, in general, will also accept us and ensure equality for the transgender community in the future,” she concludes.