Abstract

This paper aims to explore the various troublesome experiences of transgenders with their neighbours, professional colleagues, and others in the community and attempts to know how the transgender identity is stabilized in their personality. The term ‘transgender' in the study refers to ‘hijra’ in the Indian society. The present study is an empirical study in which community experiences of transgenders were extracted by using an interview schedule. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many transgender people have left the city for some unknown places. Therefore, a snowball sample from the transgender people available with NGOs or otherwise was taken, comprising 80 respondents. The data collected were analysed by using the tabulation method. The findings revealed that transgender people face discrimination even in healthcare settings due to lack of healthcare providers’ sensitivity towards transgenders. Most employers deny employment for even skilled and qualified transgender people due to their gender nonconformity, impelling them to engage in traditional transgender occupations such as ‘begging’ and ‘badhai’ with a lot of challenges. The impact of sex-specific identity documents has profound implications as to whether or not transgender will be able to lead a self-actualized life. The majority of transgenders avoided going to government offices due to fear of being subjected to physical or verbal abuse. They are refused by landlords to rent a room in the heart of the city area or asked to pay an exorbitant room rent to discourage them from taking the room. The greatest perpetrators of violence against transgender people are the police who abused them verbally, physically, and sexually. Most transgender people remain unmarried due to the non-recognition of transgressive relationships beyond heteronormativity. The transgender community has been distinctively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in a variety of ways. Many of them were bound to live a low standard of life due to their reduced level of income and pressurized by landlords to vacate the room. The findings help to make people aware of transgender issues and provide better knowledge for framing norms to make society inclusive for transgender people.

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