“The Hijras taught me that being trans and Indian is enduring. The Hijras can teach all trans people that their experiences are enduring. The Hijras can teach society that trans people are enduring.” – Alex Parmar-Yee
New York, N.Y. — In a recent article published by Queer A.F. and titled “The Hijras taught me that being Trans and Indian is enduring,” Alex Parmar-Yee.
Parmar-Yee writes, “‘People like me aren’t transgender, right?’ This is a question that I and many trans folks have asked ourselves as we have begun exploring our identities.
“However, “people like me” can mean different things for each individual. It might refer to an individual’s experience of dysphoria, their hobbies, or their friends.
“For me it was my ethnicity. Although born in London, I’m a second generation immigrant of Chinese and Indian heritage, and growing up in the ‘90s and ‘00s meant that the representation of transgender people and LGBTQIA+ people in general that I saw tended to be controversial. Moreover, those people were usually white.
“As I began to scratch the surface of trans-ness online in my 20s, I saw the trans community indeed appeared to be mostly white folks.
“As I got deeper I discovered more about Black trans pioneers, but I didn’t encounter many brown, South Asian trans siblings. Perhaps, I thought, being born and raised British had allowed me to assimilate with identities which aren’t for people like me?”
She continues, “As my initial gender exploration and experimentation ended and I became more confident as a non-binary trans feminine individual, I sought more information on trans people throughout history. I fell down an internet research rabbit hole, and ended up on a page which surprised me…
“The Hijras taught me that being trans and Indian is enduring. The Hijras can teach all trans people that their experiences are enduring. The Hijras can teach society that trans people are enduring,” she concluded.
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This article was one part of a series of official content produced for the first-ever Trans+ History Week. During the week Queer A.F. invested in, mentored and published over 30 Trans+ creatives from the U.K., U.S., and Europe.
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