By Nihal Kumar & Kritika Kalra

In a move that has caught the attention of the legal community and the public alike, Padma Lakshmi, Kerala’s first transgender lawyer, has taken a stand against discrimination and transphobia within the very halls of justice she sought to uphold. She recently wrote a letter to Kerala’s law minister, and brought to light the disturbing experiences of transphobic abuse and gender-based isolation she has endured at the hands of senior lawyers, including two government pleaders inside the courtroom.

https://youtu.be/s6tFXRjbQZU

Lakshmi’s disturbing experiences are far from isolated incidents. Numerous transgender persons employed across various sectors have voiced similar concerns, highlighting a pervasive issue of deep-rooted workplace harassment and discrimination. Alarmingly, this mistreatment is not limited to interactions with colleagues but is also perpetrated by employers themselves, painting a troubling picture of the challenges faced by the transgender community in professional environments.

“Facing transphobic slurs and being isolated by my peers was a shock to my belief in the justice system,” Lakshmi shares, highlighting the verbal abuse from senior lawyers that marred her professional journey.

In a personal account to The Probe, Lakshmi shares the depth of her struggle, one that began long before her legal career. “Being bullied and stalked has been a part of my life since childhood,” she states. “However, facing such harassment within the confines of a courtroom, a space that is supposed to symbolise justice and equality, was both new and deeply disturbing.” Her ordeal is not just confined to interactions with fellow lawyers but extends to encounters with government officials as well.

“I was shocked at the level of workplace harassment that I faced, and that too inside the courtroom,” she expresses in disbelief. Her journey to becoming a lawyer, driven by a desire to escape the bullying as a child and focus on her passion for reading and law, seems to have circled back to a familiar pattern of discrimination, but this time in a professional setting.

Read Full Story https://theprobe.in/stories/transgender-persons-face-persistent-workplace-harassment-amidst-government-inaction/