A Study on Transgender Persons and Their Family Reactions

On 24^th January 2015, the upper house of Indian Parliament passed The Rights of Transgender Persons Bill, 2014. It contains provisions to prohibit discrimination in education, employment and prevent abuse, violence and exploitation of transgender persons. It is very surprising to the transgender activists that 55,000 transgender are identified as age group of 0-6yrs by the census. Parents did not hesitate to declare their children as transgender. In this context, the present study wants to know the parental reaction to their transgender young and their choice of making family.

In-depth interviews were taken from 1) the transgender young and 2) their parents. The present researchers reached those youth and their families through NGOs. Interviews focused on family history, sexual orientation and gender identity, religious belief, family response and reaction, adaptation or rejection, experiences from relatives, neighbourhood and school, victimization, stress and coping, sources of support, future aspiration, and choice of partner. The research was done in Kolkata, a metropolitan area. Respondents varied from lower economic class to middle class. Their education level varies from illiterate to post-graduation. Family reactions also widely varied regarding their sexual orientation. In some cases these reactions also affect the transgender persons’ mental health. A very few cases , transgender persons got family support in making choice of their own partner.

Data are analysed through SPSS. It is observed that family‘s responses towards their transgender young are related with the income and education.