Grace Banu is an Indian software engineer who is a

Dalit Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold varna system of Hinduism and were seen as forming ...

and

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through ...

activist. She was the first transgender person to be admitted to an engineering college in the state of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...

. She lives in the

Thoothukudi district Thoothukudi District is one of the 38 districts of Tamil Nadu state in southern India. The district was formed by bifurcation of Tirunelveli district on 20 October 1986. Thoothukudi is the district headquarters and largest city of the distr ...

Early life

Banu was born and raised in

Tuticorin district Thoothukudi District is one of the 38 districts of Tamil Nadu state in southern India. The district was formed by bifurcation of Tirunelveli district on 20 October 1986. Thoothukudi is the district headquarters and largest city of the distric ...

, Tamil Nadu. A Dalit, she says that from early in her schooldays she was not allowed to attend the regular hours of 9.30 am to 4 pm. Banu said she was in the eighth standard when she began to experience gender dysphoria. Other students were told that they would be punished if they interacted with her. This kind of

untouchability Untouchability is a form of social institution that legitimises and enforces practices that are discriminatory, humiliating, exclusionary and exploitative against people belonging to certain social groups. Although comparable forms of discrimin ...

, based on both her caste and

gender identity Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent, and consistent with the ...

, caused her to attempt suicide and give up on the idea of finishing school. Banu's family rejected her in 2008 when she told them of her gender identity. Banu was the first transgender person to be admitted to an engineering college in the state of Tamil Nadu, which she obtained through counselling at

Anna University Anna University is a public state university located in Tamil Nadu, India. The main campus is in Chennai. It was originally established on 4 September 1978 and was named after C. N. Annadurai, the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. History & ...

. She was accepted to Sri Krishna College in 2013 through lateral entry. It was here she studied Electrical and Electronics Engineering. In addition to being admitted, Banu's fees were waived. Despite this, she struggled to pay for other associated fees and expenses. Responding to a call for help, a local businessman launched an online campaign raising funds for her to complete the course.

Professional life

After completing her Diploma with honours (95%), Banu was selected to work for a software firm as a programmer. She worked as a programmer until she quit due to alleged discrimination. Banu said that after she revealed her gender identity to management, she was initially told she could not continue her employment but management changed its decision and she was allowed to work under conditions. Banu worked in her IT position for less than two years. She filed a

right to Information The Right to Information (RTI) is an act of the Parliament of India which sets out the rules and procedures regarding citizens' right to information. It replaced the former Freedom of Information Act, 2002. Under the provisions of RTI Act, an ...

(RTI) to find out if

accepted transgender students. On finding out that they did not, she applied against their rules anyway and was given admission to a private affiliated college, Sri Krishna College of Engineering.

Activism and advocacy

Banu is the founder and director of Trans Rights Now Collective which centers on the

caste, Bahujan political party, and

Adivasi The Adivasi refers to inhabitants of Indian subcontinent, generally tribal people. The term is a Sanskrit word coined in the 1930s by political activists to give the tribal people an indigenous identity by claiming an indigenous origin. The term ...

population. She has started several online campaigns, and voiced concerns and questions on the death of a fellow trans woman, who burned to death in

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

. Banu organized protests and began a legal process to give transgender people the opportunity to participate in

Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission The Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC) is a department of the government of Tamil Nadu that is responsible for governing the recruitment of personnel into the state's public service. It is the successor of the Madras Service Commiss ...

(TNPSC) recruitment exams. In 2013, a court order opened the TNPSC exams to transgender people. Banu has been critical of the 2019 Transgender Persons' (Protection of Rights) Bill. Banu was the first recipient of the 'Best Third Gender' award. This was awarded by the Tamil Nadu government and organized by the Social Welfare and Women Empowerment Department. The award is intended to recognize transgender people for their contributions to society. Banu requested it to be called the "Best transgender" award. Banu worked on helping the transgender population during the pandemic. She identified problems with transgender people's ability to receive a

ration card Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, services, or an artificial restriction of demand. Rationing controls the size of the ration, which is one's allowed portion of the resources being distributed on a particular ...

. Banu started two online fundraising campaigns during the COVID-19 pandemic to provide food assistance to trans people, including one intended for performers and folk artistes. In 2021 Grace Banu's group, the Trans Rights Now Collective, advocated for horizontal reservation for transgender persons based on their caste rather than putting all the transgender people in the "OBC" or "Other Backward Classes" category. Banu self-published her first book, ''Talks Of Grace Banu'', in 2019. She and her group, the Trans Rights Now Collective, started The Queer Publishing House. Banu believes that ultimately reservation, dedicated places for members of different groups, is key to the uplift of transgender people. "No amount of temporary governmental and non-governmental schemes can have the transgenerational impact that reservations can have. Reservations are the only way," she says. she has been advocating for Dalit and transgender rights, demanding along with other transgender people for reservation based on gender identity as well as caste. Banu insists that the

intersectionality Intersectionality is an analytical framework for understanding how aspects of a person's social and political identities combine to create different modes of discrimination and privilege. Intersectionality identifies multiple factors of adva ...

of these oppressions matter. She believes that Dalits can be transphobic and that the transgender community replicates structures of caste privilege. She says that upper-caste transgender people bring Brahminism into transgender cultural, community and organizing spaces. Despite being pressed, upper-caste transgender women dominate all the positions of leadership, call the shots and define the needs for the whole community." Denying caste in the transgender community is like "hiding a whole pumpkin in a plate of rice," she says.

Adopted daughter

Grace Banu is the adoptive mother of Tharika Banu, the first registered transgender person to complete her secondary education in Tamil Nadu. Tharika studied until Class 11 in a government school there. Her parents refused to accept her upon learning that she was a transgender woman. In 2013, Tharika, ran away from her home in the

, where she did not feel accepted or comfortable. She arrived in

, where she was legally adopted by transgender activist Grace Banu. Tharika credited Banu with helping Tharika finish her education, get an official identification, name change and a sex reassignment surgery. After Tharika was denied a seat in a Siddha college, Banu filed a court case in the Madras High Court. Banu wrote a letter of assurance that took responsibility if anyone at the school had objections to studying with Tharika. The high court ruled that Tharika would be given admission to the Government Siddha College and the Bachelor of Siddha Medicine and Surgery (BSMS) course.

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