Including the transgender community
The transgender community in Bangladesh has finally earned full voting rights. This means that from now on, they would be able to enlist themselves as voters by using their correct identity. The news is of great hope for the country. With the government and numerous NGOs working to grant them their rights, the community of the general people needs to step forward to include them properly in our society. The ones who treat them as an anomaly of civilisation should question their principals, to say the very least.
By marginalising them further, we are only fuelling the fire. Usually, families oust their transgender children from their homes and compel them to go and join hijra communities. There, they find a sense of belonging but the atmosphere does not even compare to that of a nurturing home. Their entitlement to the very fundamental rights—education, healthcare, jobs, etc.—should be upheld by the citizens of the nation. We should be introspective regarding why they undergo such hardship because only then can we realise that it was our very attitude towards this community that drove them to feel like outsiders, denying them the right to a “normal” life.
With this, I heartily request our government to address their rights and help them be equal citizens.
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