Laxmi Narayan Tripathi

Laxmi Narayan Tripathi is anything but ordinary - she is a transgender, or locally called - hijra - she is a transgender rights activist, an actress, a Bharatnatyam dancer and the first transgender to represent Asia Pacific in the United Nations, in 2008. The eldest born boy in a Brahmin family, Laxmi holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Mithibai College, Mumbai, and a post-graduate degree in Bharatnatyam. She was called gay in school and thus she sought out Ashok Row Kavi in Grade 5, who was the only gay person she knew. She started featuring in dance videos for Ken Ghosh Ken Ghosh is a Bollywood Director who started his >> Read More... and eventually became a choreographer herself. She met the first Ph.D. hijra student Shabira, who introduced her to the hijra community.

She then became a bar dancer and was severely admired for her dance. However, since Maharashtra Home Minister RR Patil shut down the dance bars, Laxmi protested against it. Laxmi has been on the boards of several big NGOs and became the President of NGO DAI Welfare Society in 2002, which is the first registered organization for eunuchs in South Asia. To support sexual minorities, she began her organization called Astitva. She went to Toronto, Canada, for Asia Pacific sex workers network. She joined hands with Kavi in his plea against Section 377, which deemed homosexuality as a crime. Her family found out about her association with the hijra community only when she appeared on TV dressed as a female. However, they are very supportive of her since then.

Laxmi had petitioned the court to recognize transgender as a third gender, which it did in 2014. Although she was criticized by fellow transgenders for her association with various organizations, Laxmi did not deter from her path. She appeared on several television shows such as Bigg Boss Bigg Boss Tamil is the Tamil language version of t >> Read More... , Raaz Pichle Janam Ka, Dus Ka Dum and Sach Ka Saamna. She has also been featured in an award-winning documentary called Blurred Lines - India's Third Gender. Other than that, she was featured in Project Bolo and Queens! Destiny of Dance, both documentaries on hijras. She confessed on Bigg Boss that she has been in a relationship with a man and has adopted two children.