DNAIndia.com – D Ram Raj – DNA
Chennai: Sexual minorities hardly ever have it easy. Marginalised by the regular Joes and Janes, they live along the fringes of society. But there is light at the end of their despair-ridden tunnel, at least in Tamil Nadu, where the state government has introduced schemes to bring transgender people and eunuchs back into the mainstream.
The government, under the aegis of the Aaravani Welfare Board, an organisation for the welfare of transgender people (aaravani is Tamil for transgender), has launched a programme to help them undergo sex reassignment surgery (SRS) at the hands of plastic surgeons, free of cost, at the government hospital attached to the Madras Medical College. The government hopes free surgeries will prevent transgender people from endangering their lives at the hands of quacks.