WALL STREET JOURNAL | INDIA The Most Visible of India's Invisible Class March 27, 2012, 10:59 AM IST
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A hijra stood in an alley in Mumbai, August 12, 2011. Danish Siddiqui/Reuters On a swelteringly hot day in June of 2002, a 22 year-old hijra sex-worker named Sowmya was castrated by a Mumbai doctor for the sum of about 10,000 rupees ($200).
In her clan, one of seven in the city, roughly three out of every four hijras are castrated, so this dangerous, occasionally deadly tradition was built into the intimate fabric of her everyday life. "I was so nervous" at the time, says Sowmya, who only goes by one name. "But my friends were with me." While some hijras are castrated, many others simply adopt feminine clothing and mannerisms.
India's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community has been thrust into the spotlight lately due to the Supreme Court's ongoing case regarding the decriminalization of homosexuality.
