`Hum Kisi Se Kam Nahi’: Meet Komali, a transwoman who is on a mission to seek equity for transgenders

Hyderabad: When I called Komali for an interview, she had come out for a walk. It was a humid June night in Visakhapatnam city and she said she preferred to talk outdoors where a cool breeze was signalling the end of a particularly hot summer.

Komali likes spending time outdoors but the outdoors has not been kind to her often. Komali is a transgender woman and for her, as it is for persons like her, being safe in public is a daily struggle. Recently, while returning home in an auto after watching a movie at Jagadamba Junction in Visakhapatnam, she was sexually and physically assaulted by four men, which required her to seek medical help.

On June 19, the Andhra Pradesh police recognised the assault and booked the first case under the Transgender Person (Protection of Rights) Act 2019 and arrested four men, under Sections 354, 323, and Section 18(d) of the Act.

In an interview with NewsMeter, Komali discusses her life as a transgender woman in India, her drive to complete her BA degree as a means to attain financial security, and her connection to spirituality.

Asserting self-identification

“I am from a town in Andhra Pradesh and I am currently studying BA in Psychology, Journalism and Literature at St Joseph’s College in Visakhapatnam,” says Komali, as we begin the interview.

“I had to leave home at the age of 18 after I came out as a transgender woman. Then I was faced with the choice of joining the Hijra community for survival,” she says.

But she wanted her life to be different. “I didn’t want to go back to my parents, but I also didn’t want to join the Hijra community. I wanted to live on my own,” she adds.

She sees herself being different from the members of the Hijra community. For her “identifying as a transgender woman is self-identification while identifying as a Hijra is a cultural identification.

”Earlier she didn’t relate with the Hijra community and their culture, she has now understood how the community provides the structure of a family unit that helps many transgender men and women across the country survive and thrive. As for herself, she believes in living on her own, seeking the freedom that comes with being in charge of all aspects of her life.

But do all aspects of life come easy to her? A lot of things that cishet (cisgender heteronormative) sections of society take for granted are something that she constantly has to work towards achieving and maintaining, which sometimes involves breaking the status quo.

Struggling to find housing, education, and commute

It was always hard for Komali to find accommodation. “I was turned away from many houses for being a transgender woman,” she says.

Even after she managed to get a single-room accommodation, her neighbors were very critical of having a transgender woman in the colony. “But I managed to make an impact during my stay. The same people, once they came to know me and saw me living my life just like them, are now comfortable having me in the locality,” Komali says. “It is only after localities become open to providing housing to transgender persons will they begin to understand us properly.”

In her college too, she was happy to bring a change in perception about transgender persons among her classmates. But it was tough for her to find a seat in the college, especially due to having no family backing and limited sponsors to fund her education.

It is also tough for her to impart education. Komali says a lot of heads of educational institutions look down upon transpersons and think that they have no knowledge and experience to contribute to society as educators.

“I approached many schools and colleges to conduct gender sensitization classes but was refused the opportunity to talk. Once I went to give a gender sensitization seminar at an intermediate college, the school principal followed me to the bathroom where he tried to force himself on me,” Komali says. “Being educated is not automatically a guarantee for maturity.”

Traveling within the city can be tough for transpersons in many ways. “It is hard for transpersons to go out in public, especially during the transition period,” says Komali.

Transition here refers to the period during which a person begins to live according to their gender identity, rather than the gender they were assigned at birth, which may include hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and sex reassignment surgery.

“They might be worried about showing their face in public during the transition, fearing it might open them to ridicule and assault,” adds Komali. “But public transportation in India has become better because there is more awareness among the public now.”

Sensitization among police

Whenever her security is threatened in public and private spaces, she immediately seeks police intervention. “But they are yet to take transgender persons seriously and there is a lot of scope for change,” adds Komali.

“I was misgendered multiple times at police stations, even though I showed them the certificate about my trans identity issued by the district collector,” she says.

It was almost always an uphill battle for her to make the police officers take her complaints seriously and file an FIR.

In the recent assault too, the case was booked under the Transgender Person (Protection of Rights) Act 2019 only after she managed to escalate the issue to the SP-level.

“I hope that this paves the way for a swifter justice for other transgender persons too. Many are not aware of the violence transgender persons face regularly,” says Komali.

The government should also train the police department on how to correctly address the gender of transpersons, she adds.

Changes in schools and medical establishment

Komali says the basic social institutions need to change to make them inclusive of the LGBTQ+ community. For example, making marriage between a biological male and female the default can exclude unions between other genders and sexualities. This might end up alienating children who grow to identify with gender identity and expression not typically associated with their assigned gender at birth.

“Hence doctors should not assign gender at birth and children should be able to choose their gender by themselves. A doctor can assign a child as male or female but should not assign them as man or woman. The former is about genitalia, i.e. the physical body, and the latter is about the overall self-identification,” says Komali.

“A person might change physically but their personality stays the same. This must be taught from a young age,” she adds.

Similarly, she says school syllabuses should include information about the differences in gender and sex, and provide counselling to students and parents to help them understand identity from a young age. “Otherwise, they grow up fearing transpersons and wrongly assuming that it is some kind of a psychological problem,” says Komali.

Komali says this is especially important considering how mainstream TV and movies actively promote transphobia and normalize using slurs when talking about the LGBTQ+ population.“In Telugu, there is no exact word to refer to a transgender person properly,” she says.

A college of her own

Although without a plan, Komali is keen to move ahead in life. “I took journalism and psychology as my BA subjects so that I can help by becoming a counselor and also advocate about the rights of transpersons,” Komali says. “I am also interested in pursuing an MA if I can get financial help in time.”

She has already conducted gender sensitisation seminars in five colleges and plans to do more, especially among the police department to make sure transgender women are recognized as women. One of her dreams is to start school.

“I don’t believe in having a plan. I believe that God is working through me in doing all this work. I will continue to follow my inner voice in solving problems wherever I see them and strengthen my connection with God,” she says.

“Having goals only brings stress,” she finishes with a smile.