He is a TRANSMAN from INDIA

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Available Summary:

Jagrit is a 26 year old lawyer and trans man from India. In this video he talks about his journey to discovering that he's trans, about how his family accepted him, a bit about the queer coded gods and godesses in the Hindu mythology as well as his work at his job where he has created a gender affirmation policy for the company, which led to him being able to get his top surgery.

-Queers of the world, YouTube.

Jack's Summary:

This is a wonderful interview, and Oliver Jähnke does fantastic work. I'm very grateful for Oliver's channel.

Jagrit mentions being inspired by S03E03 of the talk show Satyamev Jayate, titled Accepting Alternative Sexualities. You can watch the episode here (be prepared for confronting themes). He describes how this episode allowed great self-acceptance in him, and also taught him about transgender identities beyond Hijra communities.

He also recalls the impact of trans-inclusive media on his initially unaccepting mother, who quickly understood and embraced his transition once she had access to other people's stories. She then proceeded to come out to Jagrit's grandmother on his behalf, resulting in yet another accepting family member, and fostering a safe environment for Jagrit to come out to his father and brothers. Prior and after top surgery, his whole family supported him.

Jagrit describes how, while being a trans man and not labelling himself as non-binary at all, he was still impacted by binary structures in Indian society. For example, he describes never taking the metro due to separate male and female lines; not safely fitting in with either men or women, and the distress that this caused for him.

Jagrit specifies that life has improved for him, and that acceptance in India is growing. He has become comfortable moving through public, since accessing top surgery, and would not want to move away from India. He describes going on dates in publis spaces, noting the significance of such activities in his life.

His workplace is very accepting of him, including his manager, who will directly correct staff who misgender him. He describes recently attending Delhi's first trans employment mela, and says he is still working to build inclusive workplace policies. He has a particular focus on the education sector and bullying prevention, due to his past experiences of bullying and social harassment, and wants to improve legal gender affirmation.

I found myself smiling with joy as Jagrit recalled that his father's response to his coming-out was to say, "Kaju, I will always love you, I will always respect you. You have gained more respect from me now. You are the most courageous person I know, and I don't care about the society, what they think or what they do. You are my child, and I will always support you, and I will always care about you." Oliver describes crying with happiness, during the morning spent with Jagrit and his family, and I can definitely understand why.

Thank you to Jagrit for sharing his story, and to Oliver for seeking out global trans stories.