Hyderabad: Transgender community distressed to tackle COVID-19

Hyderabad: With lack of access in Government schemes and now then closure of their daily income due to the lockdown, the transgender community are now starving to survive amidst the COVID-19.

Many of them say that they are now relying on online funding platform, 'Help The Hyderabad Transgender Community During COVID-19 Crisis' to support more than 200 transgender locals staying in the city. They are vulnerable and are looking to provide them with a monthly basic income of Rs 5,000 through the online campaign over the next two months.

Speaking to THI, Vyjayanti Vasanta Mogli, a Transgender activist said, "A majority of transgender persons eke out a living through begging and they buy food and medicines with the money they make each day. None of them have savings to fall back on. Keeping this is mind, we have started an online fund-raising campaign to support them at least for the next couple of months."

She further adds, "Most of the transgender persons are predominantly dependent on traditional transgender livelihoods; begging, accepting alms (dakshina) offering blessings at auspicious & festive occasions such as birth of a child, cradle ceremony, betrothal, engagement, wedding etc. and sex work. The lockdown after the breakout of COVID 19 pandemic has decimated and erased all livelihoods of transgender and has left many starving."

Disenfranchised and vulnerable communities daily wage earners, migrant labourers, slum dwellers & transgender persons do not have accumulated, wealth, bank balances and savings to fall back. Both the central and state governments are yet to implement the NALSA Vs. Union of India judgement of the Supreme Court.

On the contrary, the Government enacted a deeply problematic Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2020 that insists of protecting our rights dilutes them. The State of Telangana has not offered any relief to transgender persons yet.

Problems of transgender persons include starvation due to loss of livelihoods, low immunity, low CD4 count and a high HIV viral load with no access to Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) as quite a few transgender persons dependent on sex work and otherwise too are HIV+ and hence precariously immune deficient.

"A few days back there were posters that were put up on metro stations mocking the community. Many transgender persons are battling depression and suicidal tendencies unable to access hormones for their on-going Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT). We fear an explosion of suicides," adds Vyjayanti.