The transgenders in the city celebrated the National Transgender Day to mark the seventh anniversary of the historic judgment by the Supreme Court in which the transgenders were recogniszed as the “third gender”.
The celebration was carried out at Kalinga Studio, Kinnar Basti, Bhubaneswar, while communities, members of civil society and supporters connected virtually from Jaipur, Delhi, and Pune. On April 15, 2014, the Supreme Court had delivered an important verdict, recognizing transgender as the “third gender”, going beyond the binary of female/male.
SAKHA, a leading CBO working for the rights and entitlements of transgender, joined hands to mark the day for advancing the rights of transgender, generating awareness and understanding on gender equality, social inclusion and facilitate participation and dialogue among all key stakeholders.
At the event, Meghna Sahoo traced the journey of “Pariborton” Single Window since 2018, and said that the transgender self-help group, Sweekruti, formed by CFAR in 2018, was the first transgender SHG of Odisha.
District Social Security Officer for Khordha, Prasanna Kumar Mallick said that Aadhaar camps would be held especially for the transgender so that more of them can be connected to social security schemes. Sushree Sujata Behera , PMU Cell, Social Security and Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities Department (SSPED), laid stress on education of the transgender.Among others, CFAR’s Executive Director Akhila Sivadas, spoke.
Representatives of three Self-help Groups representing men, women and transgender shared their experiences of pursuing sanitation linked livelihood and the opportunities and challenges they are facing due to the pandemic.