Accepting the LGBTI community

I was waiting for an electric rickshaw in front of my college gate to go to Hetauda hospital for my leg check up. As I was about to step on to the rickshaw, I noticed a girl who was waiting for a ride, too. She said she was going to Buddha Chowk which was along the way to Hetauda hospital. We sat on the rickshaw facing each other, but we didn't talk. I didn't feel very comfortable making a small talk to a stranger, and probably she felt the same. She got off at her station.

"She is beautiful despite being a transgender. We need to create a non-discriminatory society for them." This is what the rickshaw driver said as soon as the girl got off and we were on our way to the hospital. When I heard him say it, my eyes became wide open and I got goose bumps. I was surprised, actually shocked, to find this level of awareness and acceptance towards the transgender community in a rickshaw driver.The driver's response to the transgender girl made me assess the educated mass's understanding of the LGBTI community. Honestly speaking, no matter how educated we are and how liberal we claim our thoughts to be, it is not linear with our action. We participate in programs and rallies asking for the society to change their attitude towards the transgender community, but never give much thought to what we personally think about them.

Much of our attitude is perhaps shaped by movies, too, where people from the LGBTI community aren't really given substantial roles. In fact, they are stereotyped in such a derogatory fashion that the same concept takes root in people's mind. Media doesn't seem to show much interest in raising issues of this community, and there aren't many organizations working for their empowerment, either.

The situation is so bad that we, the so called educated youth, don't even shy away from making fun of the LGBTI community just for the sake of making a conversation 'interesting.' We read moral science but don't bother to practice the moral values we've learnt.

We take pride in belonging to the 21st century and becoming the most accepting of all generations thus far. But we haven't yet learnt to wholeheartedly accept the LGBTI community.

Yes, change cannot happen overnight. But we can definitely try. Even then if you think you can't respect them, you can try not to look down on them. We can also start social media campaigns to stop harassment against this community and to promote an inclusive society where people from all caste, class and gender live in harmony.

Diwakar is an undergraduate student of Agriculture and Forestry University, Faculty of Forestry in

Hetauda.

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