An article about a politically significant LGBT person in South Asia without exploring or giving a more substantial background on the concept of Hijras feels a bit like having pizza without cheese. Being from the West and growing up with its binary sex and gender concepts, even reading the Wikipedia article on Hijra makes for some eye-opening reading.<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hijra_(South_Asia)" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hijra_(South_Asia)</a>
I'm sorry, but my main take away from the discussion wasn't about the LGBT community at all. It was that India is still not ready for democracy. A candidate decides to try out this election thing without any agenda and plans, and they win without any reason. They don't even know why they won and what they can really do for the community. Giving government jobs to beggars isn't a plan. And I'm saying this as an Indian.
She is not India's first openly transgender mayor. My city elected one more than 10 years back. She was later disqualified because India's Supreme Court did not recognize "third-sex" officially then and she contested stating her gender as female, and my city's mayorship was reserved for women .
Here's a link about her dismissal: <a href="http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/may/13up.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/may/13up.htm</a> .