A Bollywood actor, writer, dancer and activist - Laxmi Narayan Tripathi is a celebrity from the transgender community in India. She holds the fame as the first transgender person to represent Asia Pacific in a UN session.
She is also a founder and "Acharya Mahamandal" of the Kinner Akhada, a religious group for the transgender beliefs.
While a common perception is that the western world provides more rights to the sexual minority, Ms Tripathi questions it.
According to her, India is far ahead in terms of transgender rights than any other part of the world.
"The culture of India was never to discriminate," says the 39 year old activist.
"Our forefathers created spaces for each and everyone in the society, so I believe that we are again reinstating that old position."
According to her, the binaries of male and female are things left by the British colonisation in the Indian society, and she was never fit in those boxes.
She points out that the recent judgement of the Supreme Court of India recognising the rights of transgender community -for which she was instrumental as a petitioner - and the subsequent establishment of transgender welfare boards in 12 states put India at the forefront.
There are two bills in the Indian parliament supporting the causes of the community, which she believes, will make things even better.
"We need opportunities, we don’t need reservation," asserts Laxmi Tripathi.
Laxmi remembers how she was treated differently by the society in her childhood.
Transgender activist Laxmi Narayan with Deeju Sivadas of SBS Malayalam Source: SBS Malayalam
On her birth records, Laxmi was a boy, but the feminine nature in that "boy" had attracted not only stigma and discrimination, but sexual abuse too.
Laxmi says she was abused by men in her childhood.
However, when she decided to shed that male outfit and started living as what she actually was, her parents were Laxmi’s strongest support. If transgender persons get support from their family and the society, they can lead nations and change the world for better, believes Ms. Tripathi.
"I am not an example, but a drop in the ocean. This drop was nurtured very well, because the parents gave full support”, she says.
Below: watch Laxmi speak at The United Nations Young Changemakers Conclave in 2014:
Laxmi is proud of her body as a woman, and she believes that many other women are ashamed of themselves when looking at her fingers and nails.
When talking about the support of her parents, Laxmi is more vocal than ever. She quotes her father: “No educated or uneducated parents would ever go and see what their child is doing in the bedroom."
She explains, "its the child’s choice…. It is the child’s own personal story, it is none of your business or the society’s business to look at it.”
Transgender activist Laxmi Narayan at SBS Radio Source: SBS Malayalam
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