Updated Mar 14, 2012 at 12:01am IST
Rose Venkatesan, the first transgender to float a political party
Rituparna ChatterjeeRituparna Chatterjee, IBNLive.com
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/rose-first-transgender-to-float-political-party/238866-3.html (http://ibnlive.in.com/news/rose-first-transgender-to-float-political-party/238866-3.html)
New Delhi: I first spoke to Rose Venkatesan, India's first transgender television host and radio jockey, two years ago when she had just returned from Thailand after a sex change operation. On Tuesday, during a telephone call from Chennai, she said she was excited about the launch of her own political party with a dramatic agenda aimed at sensitizing people towards the plight of women and the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
Venkatesan said she had big plans for her Sexual Liberation Party of India which she hoped to launch in the next two months. It would be the first party led by a transgender. But the going has been far from smooth. Since 2010, she has been in and out of jobs, faced sexual discrimination at the radio stations she has worked at and her mother refuses to talk to her.
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Sexual reforms are high on her agenda. "India is a sexually repressed country. Sexual freedom is necessary for everybody. There is a lot of hypocrisy. I want a sexual revolution to happen. There are many laws I want changed," said Rose whose political party has a vision for sexual liberation.