Manipur has set up two quarantine centres dedicated to members of the LGBTQ community. Members have raised con…Read More
BENGALURU: When Meena*, an 18-year-old transwoman, was quarantined in a school in Odisha’s Ganjam district last month, she was put in a facility along with 14 men. Subjected to cruel jokes, sexual innuendos and crass questions over her anatomy, the teenager made several appeals to the local administration for a separate room but to no avail. “It was a never-ending nightmare for me. I chose to spend most of the time outside on the playground so I could be at ease,” said the teenager.
For another 28-year-old transgender in Mumbai, who works at a wedding photography studio, using toilets in a quarantine facility became traumatic. “I was using the women’s washroom when a woman screamed at me and ran away in disgust. Many others had the same reaction. I stopped drinking water to reduce my daytime trips to the loo,” she said. But that wasn’t all. In yet another humiliating experience, the lab assistant who took her samples for Covid-19 testing asked her what she would “charge for a night”. “People think they can take liberties, just because we are transgenders. Even if I had complained against him, I don’t think anyone would have taken it seriously,” she said.
In Hyderabad, another transwoman, Shylaja (who only uses her first name), was housed in a government hospital ward with three men while she awaited her Covid-19 test results despite protests by her.
Transgender rights activists said quarantine centres or healthcare facilities weren’t taking into account gender expression (sense of identification as male or female) when accommodating transgenders. “Placing someone like Meena, who identifies as a female and behaves and dresses in a similar way, in a dorm-type sleeping arrangement with men is putting her safety at risk,” said Rachana Mudraboyina, founding member of Telangana Transgender Hijra Intersex Samithi.
But taking cognisance of such concerns, Manipur has already set up two quarantine centres for the LGBTQ community. “Both centres have a capacity of 40 people each,” said Ngangom Uttam, director of the social welfare department in Manipur. The director added, “Several members of the community who came back from various states told us about inconveniences they had to face because they were accommodated in quarantine centres with male or female inmates. We found it necessary to provide emotional security to those belonging to the third gender by making exclusive spaces available to them.”
“We are hoping other states follow suit,” said Shanta Khurai, secretary of All Manipur Nupi Maanbi Association (AMANA), which coordinated with the district administration to set up the centres.
An official from the National Health Authority, the apex body responsible for implementing Ayushman Bharat, told TOI that directions have been sent out to government hospitals to be more sensitive in their approach towards LGBTQ members, pregnant women and the elderly.
But members of the transgender community said they were afraid to visit hospitals as they had been frequently turned away in the past or had to put up with harassment. Malathi R, a transwoman, who recently visited a government hospital in Chennai was told to pay a bribe in “cash or kind” to get a Covid-19 test. “Several hospitals refused to test me and there was no other reason for this discrimination other than my identity. I tweeted about it and a government doctor intervened and ensured I got tested. My results came back negative,” she said.
