The small town of Trilochanpur has just elected the very conservative country’s first transgender mayor. This independent candidate largely defeated her opponent, who represented the ruling party. More than 1.5 million people declare themselves to be transgender in this Southeast Asian country, many of them victims of discrimination and violence and forced to live by begging or prostitution.
The new mayor of Trilochanpur, Nazrul Islam Ritu, had to leave her village to live in a transgender community in Demra, on the outskirts of the capital Dhaka, at the age of five.
But for the past fifteen years, she has visited her village frequently, in particular to help the poorest financially, which has made her popular with the local population. She also helped build two mosques and donated to several local Hindu temples.
” This victory means they really like me and accept me as one of their own », She declared after her victory.
His election is one more step towards the growing acceptance of people belonging to the third gender, the official designation of transgender people in this conservative Muslim-majority country.
In early November, two more transgender people were elected to senior positions in other districts and Bangladesh’s first transgender news anchor entered Time Magazine’s Top 100 Photos of 2021 selection.
Bangladesh granted state recognition to the transgender community in 2014, and since 2019, the Election Commission has decided to include the third sex as a gender identity on the electoral rolls, on the same basis as men and women. .