Open discussion held at private school in Guwahati after trans student faces bullying
In an effort to educate people about the issues of trans people and create awareness among the masses, an open discussion was held at a private school in Guwahati. This comes after a ninth grade student who identify herself as a trans woman, faced bullying from her fellow students. However, she did not sit back lamenting about it, but reached out to people associated with the cause of spreading awareness on LGBTQ community.
The student reached out to Milin Dutta, founder of Anaajoree in the hope of getting a solution to her problem. After a series of discussions, an open discussion took place at the school which highlighted some of the major issues the community has to struggle in their day-to-day life. LGBTQ activist and storyteller Rituparna, Dr.Shristi Kumari, Medical officer; parents of the student; Rishav Thakur, Anthropology Ph.D. Scholar from New York University; Swagata Borah from Anaajoree; and teachers from the school were present in the discussion.
While sharing her concerns, the student said that she is losing interest in going to school because of verbal abuse, mis-gendering and misnaming from fellow students. She also shared that inappropriate questioning from her fellow students makes her feel depressed and that brings suicidal thoughts. She, along with her parents, decided to fight against all the odds and speak up. The student who wants to dress like a girl also wants to be accepted as a girl by the society.
Rituparna, who is leading a campaign called, “No More Holding My Pee”, talked about gender dysphoria. She shared that every transgender person is different from each other. She also talked about the NALSA Judgement of 2014, which allows a person to identify themselves as who they are, she also shared about means to address and how to deal with transgender students at school. Milin Dutta, also shared his story to encourage the student and make the teachers understand some of the general trans issues.