Sexual minorities in TN ahead: Two transgender activists to contest polls

In terms of social welfare and government benefits, transgender people in Tamil Nadu are way ahead of their peers in the rest of the country. Come April, they are likely to show their strength in the Lok Sabha elections too. Two leading voices of sexual minorities in the state - Kalki Subramaniam and Bharathi Kannamma - will fight as independent candidates from the western and southern parts of Tamil Nadu. [caption id=“attachment_1459011” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Kalki Subramanian: Image courtesy Firstpost[/caption] Kalki will contest from Pollachi while Kannamma will try her luck in Madurai. Both of them have said that they are not happy with the mainstream political parities, particularly on issues related to sexual minorities, and hence are taking the responsibility themselves. According to Kalki, her fight will not be for sexual minorities alone, but for all the people of the constituency. For Kannamma, the fight is mainly for the rights and welfare of sexual minorities because big political parties haven’t done much for her community. She had filed nominations for the local body elections in 2011 too, but was rejected on technical grounds. Although both of them are independents, a transgender TV star in the state, Rose Venkatesan, had floated the idea for a political party curiously titled sexual liberation party. The party, which was not heard about later, spoke about legalising prostitution and brothels, and removal of adultery laws among others.