CAPE TOWN (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Beneath a bridge in the Cape Town suburb of Woodstock, a strung-together network of blankets serves as a refuge for a group of women fighting stigma on many fronts.

SistaazHood, a group of about 40 transgender women, most of them homeless and sex workers, has become a growing voice on issues such as transgender homeless shelters, the legalization of sex work and better access to healthcare.

Local rights groups credit the Sistaaz – who were labeled male at birth but identify as female – for challenging the police’s relationship with the trans community and motivating a major court ruling on transgender prisoner rights.

“The Sistaaz contributed their experiences to the drafting of the police service’s Standard Operating Procedures, outlining concerns about harassment of transgender people,” said Liberty Matthyse, head of transgender rights group Gender DynamiX.

For 45-year-old Netta Marcus, who founded the Siztaaz with five other women in 2010, “stigma follows us wherever we go”.

“But we are showing people that we are not a story made up in their minds,” she added, adjusting her blue headscarf. “We are here, and people are starting to listen.”

South Africa was the first country in the world to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation in 1996 and is still the only African nation to allow same-sex marriage.

Yet, transgender activists say their community has largely been forgotten in the fight for equality.

A core issue for the Sistaaz is safe and affordable housing, which they say goes hand-in-hand with the struggle for their rights as transgender people and as sex workers.

Homeless shelters usually assign them to male dormitories, where “men always want sexual favors”, said one group member, who asked to remain anonymous.

Many end up living in makeshift shelters where they are vulnerable to being robbed, attacked or having their homes dismantled by law enforcement, the Sistaaz said.

The lack of housing limits the women’s options, making it difficult for those working as sex workers to make a living any other way, explained 32-year-old Lemeez Oliver, another member of the Sistaaz.

“Without proof of residence, we cannot open bank accounts. We cannot get jobs,” she said. “It all comes back to housing.”

Cape Town’s mayoral committee member for community services and health Zahid Badroodien noted in emailed comments that when the city launched a new homeless shelter last year, it allocated a section for transgender people.

VICTORIES

Statistics on South Africa’s transgender population are hard to come by.

LGBT+ rights group The Other Foundation estimated in a 2016 report that about 430,000 men and nearly 2.8 million women in the country present themselves in public “in a gender non-conforming way”.

The country’s constitution protects against any discrimination based on sex, gender and sexual orientation.

But the Geneva-based International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) says South African transgender people often face obstacles in exercising their equal rights.

For example, ILGA said in a 2017 report that the process someone has to go through to change their gender on official documentation is filled with “arbitrary obstacles”.

That could include requiring proof of gender reassignment surgery, which not all transgender people can or choose to go through.

But Marcus noted that in September, a new transgender clinic opened in the Cape Town suburb of Bellville where transgender people can use their preferred names and gender in their medical files.

And the transgender rights movement got a further boost that month, when the Equality Court granted a transgender woman held in a male prison outside Cape Town the right to wear makeup, grow long hair and be addressed with female pronouns.

Matthyse of Gender DynamiX said that SistaazHood was integral to the protests outside the court before the ruling.

“They showed that the individual is connected to the collective,” she said at her office in Cape Town.

“But we still have a long way to go for creating safe spaces for trans bodies.”

That includes transgender-specific shelters where women like the Sistaaz can still practice sex work freely, said Marcus, as well as the decriminalization of sex work.

Only a few countries – including Australia, New Zealand, Germany, the Netherlands, Senegal and Peru – recognize sex work as legal, leaving sex workers elsewhere vulnerable to abuse.

PRIDE

Mia Lukas, a 35-year-old SistaazHood member, takes pride in the fact that “in spite of transphobia”, the group’s activism is yielding results.

She pointed to the slowly improving relationship between police and the city’s transgender community.

For example, the Sistaaz have contributed to the police service’s guidelines on how to interact with homeless, transgender people, noted Matthyse.

Lukas agreed, saying that “I can see change is happening because law enforcement officers have started addressing us as ‘she’ instead of ‘he’.”

“The conversation is changing, even if it doesn’t happen overnight. And I love it.”

Alderman JP Smith, a member of the mayoral committee for safety and security, said that “generally speaking, the department is duty-bound to enforce the city’s by-laws as they apply equally to all residents.”

The Sistaaz got a shot of glamor in August 2019, when some of the members appeared in a magazine highlighting their stories and their advocacy.

Called “Sistaaz of the Castle”, the magazine was the creation of Dutch photographer Jan Hoek and fashion designer Duran Lantink.

The “castle” of the title refers to a 17th-century Dutch colonial fort – The Castle of Good Hope – outside which SistaazHood first started living together as a group.

There were 1,500 copies of the magazine published, said Hoek, with the proceeds funding the group’s work.

In the nearby suburb of Observatory, 36-year-old SistaazHood member Celine Dion rested beneath a tree in a park.

“The magazine showed that we may be homeless, but we are also talented and beautiful,” Dion said.

Spurred by a small crowd, she sat up, tilted her head to the sky and started singing French-Canadian star Celine Dion’s song “Ashes” – quietly at first, then with increasing volume and confidence.

“And when I pray to God all I ask is, can beauty come out of ashes?” she sang, as more passersby, including a few police officers, gathered around her.

When she finished, they all erupted into applause.

At the end of the day, Marcus returned to her shelter made from pieces of plastic, wood and fabric.

Framed by the city’s iconic Table Mountain, she gazed at the sprawling city and ocean below her.

“I wanted a home with a view,” she explained. “When the police tear it down, I just build it up again.”

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The NHS will let transgender patients choose whether to be treated on male or female wards, even if they haven’t had gender reassignment surgery.

Patients will be accommodated based on how they look, the way they dress and what name they go by, according to new NHS England guidelines.

This means they will share toilet and bathing facilities on single-sex wards. 

NHS England said that having ‘different genital or breast sex appearance’ is not a reason for denying patients a space on the wards. 

But the document, titled Delivering Same-Sex Accomodation, did specify that ‘pre-operative trans people should not share open shower facilities’

Non-binary patients – who identify as neither male or female – will be ‘asked discreetly about their preferences’ and given the choice of either a male or female ward. 

It added that ‘trans men and non-binary individuals can become pregnant and should be treated with dignity while using maternity services’. 

The guidance concludes: ‘Good practice requires that clinical responses be patient-centred, respectful and flexible towards all transgender people whether they live continuously or temporarily in a gender role that does not conform to their natal sex.’

The new guidelines have been met with mixed reaction, with trans rights groups hailing the move and critics branding it ‘shocking’ for the privacy of others.

Dr Jane Hamlin, president of The Beaumont Society, a transgender support group, told The Telegraph the policy had been ‘clearly been thought through very carefully and is sensible and encouraging’.

Tory MP for Monmouth, David Davies, said the move ‘drives a wrecking ball through those hard fought for rights’.

He told the paper: ‘It means people who are physically male will be placed in women’s hospital wards.

‘Nobody wants to see transgender patients discriminated against or treated badly in any way.

‘But placing people who are physically male in close proximity to vulnerable women who may be facing intimate medical procedures is not fair.’

Dr Nicola Williams of Fair Play For Women campaign group told the paper it was ‘shocking’ and means that women’s ‘privacy and dignity goes out the window’. 

An NHS spokesman said: ‘The NHS is here to provide all patients with the excellent physical and mental health treatment they need and to support them while they are in our care.

‘The revised document on “delivering same-sex accommodation” provides clear and considerate guidance for NHS staff so they can prioritise the safety, privacy and dignity of all patients.’

A Department of Health and Social spokesperson said: ‘We’re working closely with the NHS to consider the findings of the review.’  

It comes just over a month after MailOnline reported health chiefs were reviewing a service which gives transgender children drugs to pause puberty. 

NHS England said it was investigating issues around hormone-blocking drugs prescribed to under-18s to ‘pause’ their adolescence and prevent changes to the body like breasts or facial hair.

Children as young as 10 are being referred for hormone-blocking drugs, despite concerns they could cause emotional problems and long-term effects on the brain and body which are not yet known.

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Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chief Swati Maliwal on Monday wrote to the Centre and the Delhi government seeking the provision of sex reassignment surgeries in government hospitals.

In the letter to the Union and Delhi health secretaries, Ms. Maliwal said that the facility was available only in a few hospitals in the Capital which led to delays in the surgeries.

“The DCW had recently established a transgender cell to look into the complaints of violence, abuse, harassment and discrimination faced by the transgender community. After several rounds of community meetings of the cell, one of the most common issue that was brought to the notice of the Commission was a lack of proper government-sponsored sex reassignment surgeries in Delhi,” read a statement issued by the women’s commission.

Stating that free medical services should be provided, Ms. Maliwal said, “There are many transgenders in the Capital who suffer innumerable problems due to the lack of sex reassignment surgeries. Access to free and proper medical services is their right and must be guaranteed by the State. I appeal to the Centre and State governments to sex reassignment surgeries in all their hospitals to cater to the needs of the transgenders.”

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One year has passed since the Supreme Court of India in a historic judgment ruled that Section 377 of the Penal Code can no longer be used to criminalize consensual sex between people of the same gender.

Justice Indu Malhotra, one of the five judges who delivered four concurrent verdicts on September 6 last year, said society owes the LGBTQ+ community an apology for the historical wrongs perpetrated against it. The judgment came as a beacon of hope to the hitherto criminalized queer community.

But one year on, the community feels that the government has done little for them and that the fight for equality is unfinished. Activists and lawyers say they are vexed about not yet having the right to receive legal recognition of same-sex relationships and about the lack of protective laws against discrimination and violence.

“The community is thriving not because of the government but despite the government,” said queer activist Harish Aiyer.

Debottam Saha, one of the petitioners who challenged Section 377, said, “Although the Supreme Court verdict has helped  many to come out of the closet, the government has been apathetic to our struggles.”

Lack of security

Saha, who was part of a pan-India group of 20 students and alumni of the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology who took the fight to the Supreme Court, added, “The government has taken no initiative for sensitization of the larger community to eliminate stigma and discrimination although it was suggested by the verdict.”

“Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is a violation of freedom of speech and expression,” Chief Justice of India Deepak Misra and Justice Ajay Manikrao Khanwilkar said in the landmark judgment in 2018.

A 2016 survey of Indian LGBTQ+ employees, the Mission for Indian Gay and Lesbian Empowerment, an advocacy group, found that 40% had been harassed at work and the majority were not covered by anti-discriminatory workplace policies. At least two-thirds of the respondents also reported having heard homophobic comments in the workplace.

Delhi-based lawyer Mihir Samson, who was part of the legal battle against Section 377, said, “We are aiming for an anti-discrimination law that not only applies to the government and its institutions but also extends to the private sector.”

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On August 5, the Lok Sabha passed the Transgender Persons (Protection Of Rights) Bill, however, news about the legislation got buried as it was the same day that the Centre decided to revoke special status for Jammu and Kashmir.

While the nation grappled with the implications of amending Article 370, the transgender community took a closer look at the Bill that was supposed to protect their rights, and found that barely any of their demands had been included.

“The government makes rules without consulting us and it does not make any difference to our lives,” says Payal, a transgender from north Delhi.

“Our problems go much beyond a Bill. Only educated people know about the legislation,” says Shivanya, a transgender who has been associated with the Srijan Foundation for over two years.

Started in August 2008, the foundation, located near Adarsh Nagar metro station, has worked incessantly for the welfare of the transgender community.

Recalling the painful process to get an Aadhaar card that ended up involving the District Magistrate, MLA, a doctor and the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Shivanya adds: “I know my problems will not be solved. I cannot even use washrooms when I go out in public.”

Fareen, another transgender associated with the foundation, says: “People do not give us jobs and insult us behind our back. What do we do if no one employs us?”

On the day Parliament announced the amendment to Article 370, the Lok Sabha also passed the revised transgender Bill.

The legislation has been criticised by the transgender community for replacing district screening committees with bureaucratic impediments.

They have also highlighted that the provisions against discrimination have no enforceability. The Bill has also attracted disapproval for only providing separate definitions for intersex persons but no provisions for transgenders.

According to the Bill, a transgender is a person whose gender does not match with the one assigned at birth and includes transman or transwoman (whether or not such person has undergone sex reassignment surgery or hormone therapy or laser therapy), person with intersex variations, gender-queer and person having such sociocultural identities as ‘kinner’, ‘hijra’, ‘aravani’ and ‘jogta’.

Online media platform, Feminism in India, posted an elaborate critique highlighting the shortcomings of the Bill in an article published on August 5.

“The Bill has come to Parliament in this context of apathy, neglect and secrecy. A series of betrayal of assurances and a convolution of a law that would do nothing for the trans community and would rather snatch away the bare minimum that existed [sic],” it stated.

“An ideal Bill would be different and have separate provisions for transgender, transsexual and intersex persons,” said Umesh, manager of the foundation.

He claims that transsexual persons lead a very different life compared to a transgender. On the subject, Payal added that intersex persons more often than not align themselves with one of the sexes and “do not possess talents like that of a transgender”.

The new Bill states that transgenders, while obtaining a certificate, “shall be entitled to change the first name on the birth certificate”. This clause has not been well received in the community. “Our families often do not wish to associate with us. The community is our family. We should be allowed to take our guru’s name. They have given us everything,” says Shivanya.

Feminism in India believes that this provision alludes to the “impervious nature of caste in Indian society”.

Talking about Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS), Payal pointed out that “in Delhi, these surgeries are only cosmetic and can cost up to ₹1 lakh, making them unaffordable”.

She added that a proper surgery is done only in Thailand, citing the example of celebrity Gauri Arora, who underwent a sex change surgery there.

Chandini, a transgender linked with the foundation since its nascent stage, dismisses the Bill saying “there always are problems”. Shivanya, however, still harbours some hope that the Bill could have a positive impact despite its many flaws.

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