Goregaon gets city’s first transgender toilet

Nestled inside Omble garden at Aarey in Goregaon is the city's first toilet exclusively for use by transgender people, set up by Saarthi Foundation, an NGO uplifting underprivileged people in health and education sector. The project was supported by Shiv Sena's Jogeshwari East MLA Ravindra Waikar, Pawan Yadav, who is President of Saarthi Foundation and the first transgender advocate to practice in Maharashtra, Subhana Shaikh, Joint Secretary of Saarthi Foundation, advocates Dwivendra Dubey and Ravi Yadav. The only thing different in this Indian-style washroom is that it is exclusively for transgender people.

While this could be seen as a good step for the trans community, members believe that this might not be a very inclusive one. "I see this as positive, but I also see this in a different light. We [The Humsafar Trust] talk about inclusion, but if we have a separate transgender toilet that stands apart from those that offer mainstream access, then it becomes difficult for us to talk about inclusion, because it defeats the purpose," says Tinesh Chopade, advocacy manager at The Humsafar Trust, an organisation that works with LGBTQ communities in Mumbai and surrounding areas. Anjali Siroya, a trans woman and recruitment coordinator at The Humsafar Trust, says, "Having an exclusive transgender public toilet can be a problem because it [transgender] is an umbrella term that includes persons of various identities including trans men, women, non-binary among others. It's too small an effort."

Deepa Pawar, Anjali Siroya and Advocate Pawan Yadav

The idea behind installing this toilet in Goregaon, according to Pawan, was because "it is situated near a check naka signal where our sisters spend a lot of time there, working and asking for alms. The need for a washroom was high and after taking their opinion, we learnt that they go out in the open which is unhygienic. We talk about having a toilet in every house, and yet in a city like Mumbai, they need to go out in the open." According to the landmark 2014 National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) judgment, transgenders were as entitled as any Indian to constitutional rights.

Tinesh Chopade, advocacy manager at The Humsafar Trust

According to Deepa Pawar, founder director of Anubhuti Trust, a women-led NGO that deals with caste, class, gender, language and ethnicity based discriminations; the sexual identity of transgender becomes their sexual vulnerability. The biggest difficulty they face is the behaviour and the attitude of the people towards them, says Pawar. "During my school and college days, I used to not go out because I would have to wait to go to the toilet, as I didn't know if I should go to the male toilet or the female one. This has resulted in a chronic urine infection and stomach ache," says Yadav. Siroya also recalled a similar incident. "Accessing public toilets is something that trans people avoid. I hold it till I reach home or a safe space like my office or a friend's place where I can comfortably use the washroom." She talks about the Hijra community, who predominantly live in slums and have to go to the washroom at such times when there are less people around, such as late at night or early morning. A large part of the trans community begs in trains and performs arts and spend a lot of time out of their homes. In such a situation, having a safe toilet that is accessible is necessary, mentions Pawar. A safe toilet, according to Pawar should have lights and a complaint book, which is a must in every pay-and-use toilet. "At night, there are many men and drug addicts surrounding the area near washrooms. In such a situation, women and transgender persons are a soft target. If a woman yells for help, people may help, but it will not be the same in the case of transgenders," says Pawar. "Sometimes, the staff and security at public washrooms become a threat to their safety," says Siroya.

According to Siroya, instead of an having exclusive washroom just for trans people, what should be done is making the existing washrooms gender inclusive that can be used by all genders and identities. Along with this, the washroom should be a one-person-use washroom, like the ones at everyone's homes.