Ahead of India's general elections, officials have been choosing trans people as election "icons," but is this true inclusion or just political "genderwashing"?
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 Shani Soni, a trans woman from New Delhi, India, became famous after winning the Miss
00:16 Trans Queen Beauty pageant in 2020.
00:20 Her activism led her to the historic posting as New Delhi's first transgender state icon
00:25 and electoral influencer by the Election Commission of India.
00:29 India is the largest democracy in the world, but only 10% of its transgender community
00:34 registered to vote in 2019.
00:37 According to the most recent census in 2011, India's transgender population exceeds 400,000
00:43 people.
00:44 "I'll first of all address a larger issue.
00:49 We have hardly about 1,100 people from the transgender community who are registered in
00:55 our Delhi electoral roll."
00:58 A decade ago, India's Supreme Court reached a landmark ruling recognising the hijras and
01:03 transgender individuals as a third, other gender.
01:07 The Transgender Persons Act of 2019 guarantees them equal rights, including the right to
01:12 participate in elections.
01:14 But is that enough?
01:15 "I think that the Supreme Court has given us a lot of information.
01:16 I think that the Supreme Court has given us a lot of information.
01:17 I think that the Supreme Court has given us a lot of information.
01:18 I think that the Supreme Court has given us a lot of information.
01:19 I think that the Supreme Court has given us a lot of information.
01:20 I think that the Supreme Court has given us a lot of information.
01:21 I think that the Supreme Court has given us a lot of information.
01:22 I think that the Supreme Court has given us a lot of information.
01:23 I think that the Supreme Court has given us a lot of information.
01:24 I think that the Supreme Court has given us a lot of information.
01:31 I think that the Supreme Court has given us a lot of information.
01:38 I think that the Supreme Court has given us a lot of information.
01:42 I think that the Supreme Court has given us a lot of information.
01:43 I think that the Supreme Court has given us a lot of information.
01:44 I think that the Supreme Court has given us a lot of information.
01:45 I think that the Supreme Court has given us a lot of information.
01:46 I think that the Supreme Court has given us a lot of information.
01:47 I think that the Supreme Court has given us a lot of information.
01:48 I think that the Supreme Court has given us a lot of information.
01:49 I think that the Supreme Court has given us a lot of information.
01:50 I think that the Supreme Court has given us a lot of information.
01:51 I think that the Supreme Court has given us a lot of information.
01:52 community leaders at state level to target minority groups. Their tasks include campaigning
01:58 and creating social awareness for all the communities to register and take part in the
02:02 electoral process.
02:03 So we first of all want to increase more people, bring in more inclusivity to our elections
02:09 and have more transgender, apart from other sections of society, to first of all register
02:17 themselves as voters and participate in the electoral process. So for Shiny, we want her
02:25 to represent her community and go across to the people of her community to inspire them
02:34 to participate.
02:35 I'm going to use a little bit of a story. I'm going to use a story that we wrote together. I wrote a book about how we got to the election, how we got to the election, how we got to the election.
02:51 And I'm going to tell you about how we got to the election. And I'm going to tell you about how we got to the election.
02:58 And I'm going to tell you about how we got to the election.
03:01 And I'm going to tell you about how we got to the election.
03:03 And I'm going to tell you about how we got to the election.
03:05 And I'm going to tell you about how we got to the election.
03:07 And I'm going to tell you about how we got to the election.
03:09 And I'm going to tell you about how we got to the election.
03:11 And I'm going to tell you about how we got to the election.
03:13 And I'm going to tell you about how we got to the election.
03:15 And I'm going to tell you about how we got to the election.
03:21 [BLANK_AUDIO]