witness
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Perhaps that is the greatest violence society performs, not merely denying rights,
but reducing a person into a category that must constantly explain itself, with paper or with bodies.
The transgender bill has passed, one that takes away the right of biology and replaces it with physical tests.
We spoke at length about the law,
and what it chooses to protect:
the outside and not the inside.
Not the sewer, but the camp.
I felt a shiver for him;
I felt for his gender.
I look at Shrey now as a transman,
and it kills me.
I once looked at him as a Kishore singer,
a filmmaker,
or a friend who would call at tea-time.
The transgender bill has passed, one that takes away the right of biology and replaces it with physical tests.
We spoke at length about the law,
and what it chooses to protect:
the outside and not the inside.
Not the sewer, but the camp.
I felt a shiver for him;
I felt for his gender.
What does the inside of the unaccepted look like?
What if that inside is a body?
An apartment?
A camp?
A cooperative society?
A nation?
What is the form of the unaccepted?
​
Is it a large swollen tumour filled like a sewer,
where shame,
pity,
anger,
spite,
discrimination,
rage,
and scum get collected?
​
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Acceptance, legal rights, and slow ageing are some of the pillars of society,
yet we as a society fail miserably to protect even what we accept,
which often makes me wonder:
what then becomes the fate of the unaccepted?
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The Mirror
​
Witness is an ongoing series in conversation with trans men.
If you would like to participate, please connect at abeerconnect@gmail.com.