Pride and Prejudice

Nitu Budhbhatti
Sep 7, 2018 · 2 min read

I am the perenial fence sitter on this one.

I live in a country full of bigots, lies, deceit, and masks. Religion is the biggest mask most of us wear. The majority of Indian population is religious- even in the loose definition of the word.

Yet, yesterday the crowds that rejoiced when the Supreme Court of India shot down Section 377 and legalising the rights of transgenders surprised me. And it shook me up to question my own opinion on the topic.

Being born differently is a tragedy as living as a differently configured person is near to impossible in our society. We are about rules, discipline, religious fanatism and the claims of being worshippers of the divine.

Transgenders have been struggling all their lives with everything we take for granted. It’s a very suffocating & frustrating life. And, yesterday was the awakening. \

A question that doesn’t stop nagging me is that the imbalance of nature is now legally accepted and maybe has opened a pandora’s box of evil that we, as a conservative society, are not prepared to deal with.

It’s a milestone for transgenders to be included as equals in the legal framework in India- it’s their constitutional right and finally they have it. But, is the society prepared to implement the by-products of this?

The power that comes with this law is infinite. There are many leading artists, fashion designers, dancers, celebrities and other personalities recognised as gay but have never been able to admit to it. There is the question that India struggles with HIV/ AIDS and is prevalent in this community. The impact of this judgement is across immigration, voting rights, employment, violence & crimes, housing, identity documents, Are we prepared to deal with that?

I never thought that my views would change the day that the law changed. The law gives power and freedom to all Indians who are clearly not prepared to deal with the by-products of it.

If we read on Mona Ahmed’s life, we realise that not being accepted legally as a third gender is damning on their very existence- and then, it makes me question my views again. Is it fair that society decides the path of a gender God created because we can’t accept?? This article is worth a read https://feminisminindia.com/2018/08/09/mona-ahmed-history/