...transgender activist Kalki Subramaniam made an impassioned plea for more inclusiveness for her community in all walks of life

“It was mind-boggling, I became giddy” laughs Kalki Subramaniam, the transgender-actvist-artist. She is talking about the view of the Nevada mountain range from Stratosphere towers, one of the tallest buildings in Las Vegas. “The building has 104 floors and it has been featured in the Ocean’s series movies.”

Kalki is just back from her U.S. trip where she spoke at the Harvard Business School, Harvard University. “I was invited to speak on behalf of the sexual minorities, and represent the Indian transgender community,” she says.

Along with her the other invitees were Omar Abdullah, Pritish Reddy from Aam Aadmi Party, fashion designer Manish Malhotra, and film maker Deep Mehta “In the Inspire series that I spoke, Meagan Fallone, Pritish Reddy and Pawan Kalyan were also the speakers.

Actor Pawan declared a transgender wing to his political party, Jana Sena, after listening to my speech,” says Kalki.

Kalki visited five cities — Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Boston and New York — and wherever she went she ensured that the voice of the LGBT community is heard. “ I spoke about how as a gender minority person I struggled at every stage of my life to exert my identity as a transgender, an artist, activist. But I know with hope and courage, you can overcome any hurdle.”

In Los Angeles, two Tamil transgender women Celia Sandhya Daniels and Maya Jafer hosted Kalki. “Celia works in a multinational and Maya is an alternative medical practitioner. They both speak fluent Tamil and are very proud of our Tamil culture. They are flying high because of their education. Vanmeenakshi, another transgender pursuing her education in Florida is also a sign of hope.”

Kalki went on a long drive from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. “ We drove in Celia’s car across the deserts of Nevada listening to Ilaiyaraaja’s songs all the way. In Vegas, Celia took me to the casinos and we also went to a Frank Marino’s drag show named Divas. It was fun.”

She speaks of her first experience of snow as well when she was in Boston and her sampling of the best cheesecake ever at The Cheesecake Restaurant in Los Angeles. But it was the art experience there that made a deep impact on Kalki. It was street art in New York and San Francisco and Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Monet, Paul Cezanne, Pablo Picasso, Diego Rivera, Gauguin, Andy Warhol, and Robert Rauschenberg in Museum of Modern Art. Kalki is an artist herself who has often used her art to fund transgender initiatives.

About acceptance of transgenders, Kalki felt the northern states were more liberal. It is not so in the souther states like Arizona, Texas and Alabama, she says. “With the new government in place, ‘transphobia’ is rising again in the U.S.,” she adds, though she did not personally face any discrimination.

But there is so much of passion in activists there, says Kalki. “I also visited several academic institutes that have separate resource centres for LBGT rights. We should have similar facilities here.” In her talk at Harvard University, Kalki shared her personal journey and highlighted how in contemporary India transgender children are rejected by families. “It’s time families took the decision to be inclusive and stop abandoning the children on the streets,” she makes an impassioned plea saying it is shameful how vulnerable transgenders feel and how they are mercilessly bullied and ridiculed. “We want to enjoy an ‘inclusive’ role in every aspect of life.”

Kalki admits that though changes have been slow, there has been improvements. “The Supreme Court ruling on the rights of LGBT community is a big boost. State governments now have a welfare wing for transgenders. But families are still ‘homophobic’ and ‘transphobic’. We need more transgender-friendly laws, policies and also mass awareness.”

Her speech won a standing ovation at Harvard University. “I feel thrilled as it as an acknowledgement of the transgender community.”

Reaching out

KAlkihas reached out to million students in the last 10 years. Every month, she talks to 1000 students.

“I talk to students about gender diversity and urge them to accept us as normal people. To girl students I talk about celebrating womanhood, to speak up against gender discrimination, and to be supportive to the transgender community. It is lack of education that drives transgenders to take up begging or sex work. The younger generation can change this.”

Her U.S. speeches

Other than Harvard, Kalki spoke at :

Satrang the South Asian LGBT organisation

The United Church of Chirst at Simi Valley (to American families about the crucial need for family acceptance and support for gender non-conforming children).

University of California LGBT Education Resource Centre where she participated in a comparative discussion on American and Indian LGBT issues.

Women on board

Women were allowed to vote in the U.S. only in 1920. Till then, its female citizens did not share all of the same rights as men, including the right to vote.

It was in December 2015, that women were first allowed to vote in Saudi Arabia (in the municipal elections).