Bengaluru's Rainbow Habba 2025 showcases transgender achievers

Rainbow Habba 2025, which celebrates gender and sexual diversity, was held on a grand scale in the city on Saturday.

The occasion featured India’s first transgender ventriloquist, Jaanu, and a trans woman gym trainer, Ani Mangalore. They shared their experiences and challenges.

Siddappa Hukkeri from Belagavi was felicitated for securing a peon's post in the the Hassan District Court through the 1% reservation for transgender individuals.

During his felicitation, Hukkeri highlighted the role of Manohar Elevarthi, Rajesh Srinivas, and Nisha Gulur from Sangama Foundation, an LGBT rights group based in Bengaluru, which had submitted a Public Interest Litigation in 2022 seeking 1% reservation in state government jobs for transgender minorities to help trans people earn a respectable livelihood rather than resort to begging.

Jaanu from Raichur, who initially begged and worked as a sex worker, recalled her struggle to find her own voice. It was during this difficult phase that ventriloquism caught her interest, and she went on to become the country’s first transgender ventriloquist.

Nisha Gulur of Sangama Foundation formally submitted a copy of demands to Mahesh Babu, Managing Director of the Women Development Corporation, Karnataka. Key among these were the establishment of a dedicated corporation with a Rs 200-crore allocation, housing facilities for Sexual and Gender Minorities (SGM), government coaching for recruitment exams, promotion of entrepreneurship, formation of an SGM rights protection commission, free sex reassignment surgeries, and legalisation of begging.