NO ROOM FOR ONE'S PRIDE

Sleeping on a corporation park bench, concealing gender identity, or travelling 35 kilometers to reach work — this is the cost of finding a house in Chennai for a transperson

- MARY CATHERENE

Whispers at an apartment complex in Virugambakkam erupted into shouts. Preethisha, a trans woman and theatre artiste, lived there openly—comfortable in her skin, draping saris and inviting friends over. For her neighbours, this was unacceptable.

More than forty residents ganged up on her at around 8 am. She rang up the police. "Why trouble the residents? Vacate the place," said law enforcement officers.

She refused.

With the help of Jayanti, a High Court judge and legal advisor, she stood her ground. "She will stay there. If you have any issues, see me in court," Jayanti told them.

The harassment hushed down for a while. But complaints over parking, late electricity bills—petty grievances meant to drive her out—would keep popping up. However, Preethisha remains. "I will stay here only. I am a human too."

The exclusion spectacle

As per a 2019 report by Tata Institute of Social Sciences, only 10% of rental housing in urban India is through registered, written contracts. This means rental housing is a thickly social field—a set of interactions mediated between renters, brokers, and landlords where the "contract" is socially performed, orally enforced, the report says. This puts the trans community at a major disadvantage, even if they are educated and have sustainable incomes.