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India's First Openly Transgender Mayor in Her Own Words

32 points by bhaumik 12y ago

rmxt 12y ago
An article about a politically significant LGBT person in South Asia without exploring or giving a more substantial background on the concept of Hijras feels a bit like having pizza without cheese. Being from the West and growing up with its binary sex and gender concepts, even reading the Wikipedia article on Hijra makes for some eye-opening reading. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hijra_(South_Asia) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hijra_(South_Asia)
- amalag 12y ago
  The pre-Islamo-Judaic-Christian world was more open to such transgender people in Asia. It was not anything that people concerned themselves with. I hope they can integrate themselves in mainstream occupations. I think things have come full circle now with a greater acceptance.
- bhaumik 12y ago
  Thanks for sharing. In my last trip to India, I visited Bahacharaji and didn't understand why most people would pray with (and offer money to) the transgender women before entering the main shrine. I had no idea they considered themselves to be part of a third gender. Highly recommended Joothan [1] if you want a first-hand account of a Dalit (member of the "untouchable" caste). "Joothan" refers to chewed up food or leftovers on a plate that a higher class would throw out. Many Dalits in Indian slums would resort to that for food. Fascinating autobiography with controversial theories on the origins of vegetarianism in Hindu culture. [1] http://www.amazon.com/Joothan-Untouchables-Life-Omprakash-Valmiki/dp/0231129726 http://www.amazon.com/Joothan-Untouchables-Life-Omprakash-Va...
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
isgood12 12y ago
I'm sorry, but my main take away from the discussion wasn't about the LGBT community at all. It was that India is still not ready for democracy. A candidate decides to try out this election thing without any agenda and plans, and they win without any reason. They don't even know why they won and what they can really do for the community. Giving government jobs to beggars isn't a plan. And I'm saying this as an Indian.
- trextrex 12y ago
  I think you're being a bit cynical, and detracting from the point of the article. Yes in this particular case democracy didn't work so well. But the takeaway is that such a large group of people were not only OK with having a transgender as a mayor. That is good news anywhere.
  - isgood12 12y ago
    Yeah cynical is perhaps the right word. As an Indian, I won't be shocked if people voted for this candidate just because it would be funny.
    - lotsofmangos 12y ago
      It says in the article she visited every household. That's proper old-school political campaigning. If people voted for her because they thought it would be funny, then they only thought that because she did the legwork.
- lotsofmangos 12y ago
  "A candidate decides to try out this election thing without any agenda and plans, and they win without any reason. They don't even know why they won and what they can really do for the community. Giving government jobs to beggars isn't a plan." Actually, that sounds like normal democracy in action to me. Unprepared candidates being voted in happens all the time in all democracies. And this candidate seems reasonable and may end up doing a good job. If you look to other democracies for comparison, Talkeetna in Alaska has had a cat named Stubbs as the elected mayor for years. Mel Carnahan got voted into the US senate in an election 3 weeks after his death. And Tiririca the Clown got voted in to Brazil's congress and was completely inexperienced and was accused of being illiterate. He apparently worked really hard and did a very good job of it. Remember, democracy is not a plan and nobody is ever 'ready' for it. It just tends to be usually less objectionable than the alternatives, especially the planned alternatives. edit - Also, Ms. Kinnar did not win for no reason. "I have no experience, I’ve never made a public speech, but while campaigning, I went to every household." And she seems to have a clear idea of what she wants do to for the community. "I feel the most-important responsibility I have is towards my people. My community. I have to stop them from begging for money on the trains. Instead, I want to give them jobs in municipal corporation. Apart from that, the deplorable condition of roads and drains in the city worries me. Raigarh doesn’t have a water shortage but taps often run dry. I want to make sure people in Raigarh get adequate water supply."
sighsigh 12y ago
Failing to see why pop morality is on HackerNews?
- lotsofmangos 12y ago
  This is a new section for things that are both popular and moral.
muktabh 12y ago
She is not India's first openly transgender mayor. My city elected one more than 10 years back. She was later disqualified because India's Supreme Court did not recognize "third-sex" officially then and she contested stating her gender as female, and my city's mayorship was reserved for women . Here's a link about her dismissal: http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/may/13up.htm http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/may/13up.htm .

32 points by bhaumik 12y ago

rmxt 12y ago

An article about a politically significant LGBT person in South Asia without exploring or giving a more substantial background on the concept of Hijras feels a bit like having pizza without cheese. Being from the West and growing up with its binary sex and gender concepts, even reading the Wikipedia article on Hijra makes for some eye-opening reading. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hijra_(South_Asia) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hijra_(South_Asia)

amalag 12y ago
The pre-Islamo-Judaic-Christian world was more open to such transgender people in Asia. It was not anything that people concerned themselves with. I hope they can integrate themselves in mainstream occupations. I think things have come full circle now with a greater acceptance.
bhaumik 12y ago
Thanks for sharing. In my last trip to India, I visited Bahacharaji and didn't understand why most people would pray with (and offer money to) the transgender women before entering the main shrine. I had no idea they considered themselves to be part of a third gender. Highly recommended Joothan [1] if you want a first-hand account of a Dalit (member of the "untouchable" caste). "Joothan" refers to chewed up food or leftovers on a plate that a higher class would throw out. Many Dalits in Indian slums would resort to that for food. Fascinating autobiography with controversial theories on the origins of vegetarianism in Hindu culture. [1] http://www.amazon.com/Joothan-Untouchables-Life-Omprakash-Valmiki/dp/0231129726 http://www.amazon.com/Joothan-Untouchables-Life-Omprakash-Va...
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]

isgood12 12y ago

I'm sorry, but my main take away from the discussion wasn't about the LGBT community at all. It was that India is still not ready for democracy. A candidate decides to try out this election thing without any agenda and plans, and they win without any reason. They don't even know why they won and what they can really do for the community. Giving government jobs to beggars isn't a plan. And I'm saying this as an Indian.

trextrex 12y ago
I think you're being a bit cynical, and detracting from the point of the article. Yes in this particular case democracy didn't work so well. But the takeaway is that such a large group of people were not only OK with having a transgender as a mayor. That is good news anywhere.
- isgood12 12y ago
  Yeah cynical is perhaps the right word. As an Indian, I won't be shocked if people voted for this candidate just because it would be funny.
  - lotsofmangos 12y ago
    It says in the article she visited every household. That's proper old-school political campaigning. If people voted for her because they thought it would be funny, then they only thought that because she did the legwork.
lotsofmangos 12y ago
"A candidate decides to try out this election thing without any agenda and plans, and they win without any reason. They don't even know why they won and what they can really do for the community. Giving government jobs to beggars isn't a plan." Actually, that sounds like normal democracy in action to me. Unprepared candidates being voted in happens all the time in all democracies. And this candidate seems reasonable and may end up doing a good job. If you look to other democracies for comparison, Talkeetna in Alaska has had a cat named Stubbs as the elected mayor for years. Mel Carnahan got voted into the US senate in an election 3 weeks after his death. And Tiririca the Clown got voted in to Brazil's congress and was completely inexperienced and was accused of being illiterate. He apparently worked really hard and did a very good job of it. Remember, democracy is not a plan and nobody is ever 'ready' for it. It just tends to be usually less objectionable than the alternatives, especially the planned alternatives. edit - Also, Ms. Kinnar did not win for no reason. "I have no experience, I’ve never made a public speech, but while campaigning, I went to every household." And she seems to have a clear idea of what she wants do to for the community. "I feel the most-important responsibility I have is towards my people. My community. I have to stop them from begging for money on the trains. Instead, I want to give them jobs in municipal corporation. Apart from that, the deplorable condition of roads and drains in the city worries me. Raigarh doesn’t have a water shortage but taps often run dry. I want to make sure people in Raigarh get adequate water supply."

sighsigh 12y ago

Failing to see why pop morality is on HackerNews?

lotsofmangos 12y ago
This is a new section for things that are both popular and moral.

muktabh 12y ago

She is not India's first openly transgender mayor. My city elected one more than 10 years back. She was later disqualified because India's Supreme Court did not recognize "third-sex" officially then and she contested stating her gender as female, and my city's mayorship was reserved for women . Here's a link about her dismissal: http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/may/13up.htm http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/may/13up.htm .