Despite the constitutional provisions guaranteeing the rights of the LGBTIQA+ community and despite the country’s pro-queer global image, members of the community still have to face all kinds of discriminations. This was also evident during a recent ApEx roundtable organized to bring the community’s issues out in the open.

Community members feel the government doesn’t care about them. Otherwise they would be better counted in the national census and there would be more jobs for them. They complain of still being judged based on their looks even as few people want to discuss their issues openly. Part of the problem is also their problematic portrayal in the movies and popular media where transgenders are mostly shown as sleazy and comic characters.

Then there are problems with their identification. Not everyone in the LGBTIQA+ community wants to be identified as ‘others’. But if a transwoman has to be identified as a woman, she first has to present a sex-change certificate, and not everyone can afford that.

These were some of the issues the LGBTIQA+ representatives flagged in the roundtable. They showed that while the country is progressive on paper, it has to do a lot more to make the community feel at home.

Full story here.