If Manipur Can Set Up Quarantine Facilities Sensitive To Transgender Needs, Why Can’t Other States?

Reports suggest that the transgender community is facing a nightmare like situation because of lack of separate quarantine centers. Again there is no one to listen.

The times of COVID-19 are the tough times. These times have made people see a whole new perspective. From sanitizing hands every 10 mins to practising quarantine, people have seen a lot of things. Quarantine facilities too, have been reported to be bad in many publications.

But one community that is hit the most during these times is the transgender community. A report published in the Times Of India highlighted how a of lack of separate quarantine facilities for the transgender community, their experience is nothing less than a nightmare. 

Sexually humiliated 

An 18-year old transwoman cited that when she was quarantined in a school in Orissa she was put in there with 14 men. Even though she is a transwoman she was put in there with 14 men. As a result, she was subjected to humiliation, sexual innuendos, and cruel jokes about her anatomy.

Because that’s how we in our society treat transgenders because they are not normal. Right? 

The teenager asked the authorities again and again for a separate room and it all went in vain.

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Can’t go to the toilet

In another similar case in a quarantine centre in Mumbai, a 28-year old transwoman had to control her urge to go to the loo because women over there used to look at her and scream. Apart from that a lab assistant even asked her how much she charged for a night. 

These incidents have again raised the question of why governments cannot be sensitive to the issues of the transgender community. Why is it so tough to understand that we live in a society where transgender people are discriminated against and humiliated? 

If Manipur can do it then why can’t other states?

Manipur is the only state in the country that has set up dedicated quarantine centres for stranded members of the transgender community for people who are returning to the state amid a nationwide lockdown. 

So if setting up a separate facility is something that Manipur can do then why can’t other states do that too? How much more such horrifying nightmare-like experiences do people from the transgender community have to go through to make states realise their basic need for emotional security during the pandemic?

The transgender community and their needs have always been ignored by society and the government. COVID-19 has made it infinitely worse. Shouldn’t be be more sensitive going forward?

Image credits – ANI

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