"You don’t have to be relegated to the sidelines, to the niche or to the fringe, but you can be mainstream."

Why Apsara Reddy, Congress's First Transgender Office Bearer, Chose Politics Over London

"You don’t have to be relegated to the sidelines, to the niche or to the fringe, but you can be mainstream."

COURTE

NEW DELHI — On 8 January 2018, Apsara Reddy made history by becoming the first transgender office bearer of the Congress, India’s oldest political party.

The 35-year-old transgender woman, who was born a boy, believes her appointment is a milestone in her efforts to prove that she has a lot to offer this country, and relegating the transgender community to the fringe is a mistake.  

Before joining the Congress this year, Reddy, who hails from Chennai, worked for two weeks with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and then as a spokesperson for the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). Reddy, who completed her higher studies in Australia and England, and spent many years working as a journalist in India and abroad, is now a national general secretary in the All India Mahila Congress.

In a conversation with HuffPost India earlier this week, Reddy spoke about her transition from  a boy named Ajay into a woman. She also spoke of life after Section 377, her experience in an Indian newsroom, and what her meetings with Congress President Rahul Gandhi and BJP President Amit Shah were like.

The Congress is the oldest political party in the country. You are its first transgender office bearer. Do you feel the gravity of the moment?

It was very emotional for me. I came back to the hotel room after meeting with Rahul Gandhi in Delhi and I burst out crying. This was the moment that told me that all the decisions I had made, all the internal battles I had fought, all the battles I had fought with the world, and all the abuse and prejudice I had taken, this was the answer that proved I was right.  

The amount of media attention it garnered and the amount of love from all the quarters just drowned out the negative voices. A lot of people, who I had not met for years, called up to congratulate me. There were relatives of mine who regretted being rude to me and apologized. It brought back so many more people into my life. It changed my life overnight.

What are your thoughts on how the media covered your appointment?

I believe that transgender women should access all spaces, but when she becomes headline news just because of her identity — even when I became general secretary of Mahila Congress — focusing only on gender takes away from the sanctity of that position. The press needs to move beyond just covering the sights and sounds of transgender women which are so typical. The media needs to focus on the actual event. For instance, me joining the Mahila Congress could have also been more than a transgender woman getting a chance in politics. It could have been about the role, what does it mean for mainstreaming, what does it mean for the overall politics and the mindset of politicians.

How do you think the country views transgender women in 2019?

That you are either a dancer or an escort or a makeup artist or you are something related to the fashion and glamour world. To be taken seriously, I think there is a way in a which we also have to conduct ourselves that makes it easier to integrate. I’m not saying kill your soul or don’t dress the way you want to, but when you are going to work, when you are going into employment, you need to follow the rules. Just because you are transgender or gay does not mean that you can ask for the permission to dress a certain way. Your identity has to go beyond your attire.