Nisha Ayub (born April 5, 1979) is a

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

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 tr ...

rights activist. Ayub is the co-founder of the community-run SEED Foundation and transgender grassroots campaign Justice for Sisters and she was awarded the prestigious

International Women of Courage Award The International Women of Courage Award, also referred to as the U.S. Secretary of State's International Women of Courage Award, is an American award presented annually by the United States Department of State to women around the world who have ...

in 2016.

Early life

Nisha Ayub was born in

Malacca Malacca ( ms, Melaka) is a state in Malaysia located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, next to the Strait of Malacca. Its capital is Malacca City, dubbed the Historic City, which has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site si ...

, Malaysia, on April 5, 1979. She is of mixed maternal

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

Ceylonese Sri Lankan or Ceylonese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Sri Lanka * A person from Sri Lanka, see Demographics of Sri Lanka ** Sinhalese people, the ethnic majority ** Sri Lankan Tamils, an ethnic minority ** Sri L ...

and paternal

Malay Malay may refer to: Languages * Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore ** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century ** Indonesi ...

descent. Nisha has memories of when she was a child and used to wear a “selendang” (shawl) while dancing to

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

songs. Nisha was raised by her mother

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

family after her father's death when she was six years old. Her mother is a Muslim convert. At nine years old, Nisha participated in a fancy dress competition, as a

ballerina A ballet dancer ( it, ballerina fem.; ''ballerino'' masc.) is a person who practices the art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet; however, dancers have a strict hierarchy and strict gender roles. They rely on yea ...

wearing a black dress and a wig. At the time, she realized that was the real Nisha.

Biography

As a transgender woman, Nisha has faced law enforcement where Islamic sharia laws are enforced. Under a provision of

Sharia Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the H ...

(Islamic law) a male person is prohibited from dressing or behaving like a woman and appearing in public that way. Violation of this is punishable by a fine of 1,000

ringgit The Malaysian ringgit (; plural: ringgit; symbol: RM; currency code: MYR; Malay name: ''Ringgit Malaysia''; formerly the Malaysian dollar) is the currency of Malaysia. It is divided into 100 ''sen'' (formerly ''cents''). The ringgit is issued ...

(approximately US$257) and a jail term for period of six months to a year. Sharia law is enforced by the state Islamic religious departments. Under this law, Ayub was imprisoned for three months in 2000. While Nisha was imprisoned in a male prison, the warden and other prisoners sexually assaulted her. Ayub said of her time in the prison: "They asked me to strip naked in front of everyone. They made fun of me, because my body doesn’t conform to what men and women are supposed to be.” Ayub, through non-governmental organizations, counsels people, provides training to develop professional careers, addresses their health and welfare issues and provides them legal support.

Legacy

Nisha Ayub photo malaysia 24 4 20 15 am 1

Nisha Ayub was honored with

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

Alison Des Forges Alison Des Forges (née Liebhafsky; August 20, 1942 – February 12, 2009) was an American historian and human rights activist who specialized in the African Great Lakes region, particularly the 1994 Rwandan genocide. At the time of her death, s ...

Award for Extraordinary Activism in 2015 for her bold action opposing the Malaysian laws that were detrimental to the interest of people to live in peace without being harmed and oppressed. She also received the

in 2016, becoming the first openly transgender woman to receive that award. In 2016, San Diego declared April 5 to be Nisha Ayub Day in the US city. In the proclamation, San Diego mayor Kevin L. Faulconer said: "Nisha Ayub continues to fight for the equality and protection of all people in her country and beyond its borders." In 2018, a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Agriculture of

University Putra Malaysia University of Putra Malaysia (Malay: ''Universiti Putra Malaysia''), abbreviated as UPM, is a Malaysian public research university located in Serdang, Selangor. Formerly it was named Universiti Pertanian Malaysia (Agricultural University of M ...

, Leena Wong alongside lead study author Patrick Krug from

California State University The California State University (Cal State or CSU) is a public university system in California. With 23 campuses and eight off-campus centers enrolling 485,550 students with 55,909 faculty and staff, CSU is the largest four-year public univers ...

, Los Angeles, discovered a new species of sea slug that camouflages itself as seaweed, and upon confirmation that it was indeed a new species, named it '' Sacoproteus nishae'' after Nisha. The sea slug was named so due to its ability to camouflage itself after seaweed calling "it the best example of an animal masquerading as a plant". In 2019, Nisha became the only Malaysian on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) 100 Women of 2019 list. She was recognised by

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

for her work in assisting the local transgender community.

Awards and accolades

References

External links

Justice for Sisters
official website
The SEED Foundation Official Website
{{Authority control 1979 births Living people Malaysian human rights activists Malaysian people of Indian descent Malaysian people of Malay descent Malaysian people of Sri Lankan descent Malaysian women activists People from Malacca Recipients of the International Women of Courage Award Transgender rights activists Transgender women