Kerala: Trans-person's viral video helps her get livelihood support

Seling food on the streets of Kochi in Kerala was the means Sajana, a transgender person, had to eke out a decent living. However, resistance from a section of the society and neglect shown by the police forced her to stop her business.

This is not an isolated incident. Sheetal, a member of Kerala Transgender Justice Board, told DH that the society is not kind towards transgender community members who try to become entrepreneurs.

With Sajana's video where she shared her plight going viral on social media, state health and social justice minister K K Shailaja assured support to her. This was followed by many others who pledged support, including actor Jayasurya who offered to help her set up a hotel.

Over the years, Sajana did all sorts of odd jobs. With the lockdown hitting the livelihood options, Sajana, with the support of a few other members of the community, decided to sell biriyani on the streets of Kochi. However, the outcome was mental and physical harassment.

Sajana said that during the initial days, the business seemed good. That's when a section of people started harassing them mentally and physically. The police did not offer any recourse. Instead, they advised Sajana to set up a shop and sell biriyani here instead of on the streets.

With no options left, Sajana shared her plight through a social media post, which triggered social media campaigns to support her. "People ask transgenders to eke out a living through any decent jobs. But when we try to eke out a living by doing such jobs, this is the response that we receive... Out of the 150-odd biriyani packets we made recently, only around 20-odd could be sold," she had said in the post.