Aga Ahmed Hussain Week 5

In Decolonizing Transgender in India Some Reflections Raina Roy and Aniruddha Dutta talk about how the word “transgender” has become a umbrella term that encompasses other different kind of sexual orientations and sexualities. In India sexuality is not as linear as in other countries as India has a strong hierarchy of caste and class. India is diverse so when it comes to it’s LGBTQ+ members their struggles are different. These differences and diversities within the community forms a hierarchy when every other kind of sexuality is brought under one umbrella term. This further opens the members of the community to discrimination. There are different layers to this hierarchy such as masculinity or femininity, rich or poor, cross dresser or  not, homosexual or queer. The author argues that these are completely different from one and other but in India they are squeezed under  the term “transgender”. Hence doing this devalues different sexualities and their struggles. This ignores the social political struggles class, caste or religion brings to the table. I believe that it is high time that Indians are made to understand that any person who is not straight or cis-gender not automatically transgender. Generalising and putting all the different sexualities and gender identities into one only makes it harder for the people of these marginalised communities.