Latest / Stuff Mom Never Told You / Activists Around the World: Bhumika Shrestha

Transcript

Activists Around the World: Bhumika Shrestha · Stuff Mom Never Told You

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and welcome to Steffan
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Never Told your reproduction by her Radio.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: We are continuing our celebration and giving the flowers to
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: the queer community during the US Pride Month. Yes, it
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: is June twenty twenty sixth Pride Month. It is celebrated
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: here and we are talking about the amazing works and
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: activism of Nepalese transactivist Bubika Srista and her recent successful
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: bid in her political career which has made history in Nepal.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: You know we love to see it. But first before
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: we jump into that. Srista was born in Katmandu, Nepal,
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: as one of three kids in her family. In an
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: interview with Liverpool John Moores University, she talks about her
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: childhood and says this, when I was born, my parents
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: were very happy because they had given birth to a son,
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: and you know very well the importance of having a
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: son in Nepoli's society. As I grew up, though my
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: behavior was similar to that of a female. I wanted
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: to be female and used to behave in the manner
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: of a female, at which at each stage of my
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: life my habits were those of a girl and not
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: a boy. People would say that this was just a
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: passing face and that I would change as I grew up,
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: but it didn't happen for me, and just an FYI listenurse,
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: this is a translated interview, so some of the words
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: would be like that sounds not like a natural interview,
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: and that's why because we have the translation of it.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: So and she goes on to say, when I was young,
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: I used to behave badly and call other people gay
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: as I did not know then about the third gender.
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: There was a lack of awareness in society at the
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: time about the issues surrounding third gender. People thought that
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: we the third gender were unnatural. In my school, I
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: was the only boy that behaved like a girl. It
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: was hard for me at school as my helpies were
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: things like dancing, wearing eyeshadow and putting on lipstick and
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: female clothes. And she goes on to talk about her
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: experiences with the school system and being told that her
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: acting feminine was wrong and was eventually suspended from school,
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: which pushed her to stop studying. So she stopped at
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: a young age. But with all of the bad she
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: talks about her mother, who was very supportive of her
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: and helped her to embrace who she was and who
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: she is. Quote, my mother helped me a lot, and
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: she's helping me now defind my gender identity and to
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: get self respect in society. She accepted me as a
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: third ginger member of the family despite the fact that
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: we live in such a traditional society in Nepal. So
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: my mother has always been the main inspirational person in
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: my life. And I love the story. And she goes
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: on to talk about the fact that her whole family
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: is now supportive, and I have a feeling that has
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: a big push with her mom always being there for
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: her and advocating for her. I love to see it.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: We love supportive families here. Yeah, shout out to the mom.
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: Her experiences in her earlier years pushed her to become
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: the advocate and activist she is today. She's been working
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: with different organizations throughout her community, and in two thousand
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: and seven, she competed in a trans beauty pageant and
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: won the title of Miss Pink, which opened doors for
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: her to be a vocal advocate for the trans community.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: So she really took that on and became a big
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: proponent in trans and queer advocacy. Since then, she's been
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: doing groundbreaking work in Nepal, including helping to change the
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: identity and gender basis to the Nepalese passports and citizen cards.
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: Her experience of having to dress and be identified as
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: a man on her passport, though her style and physical
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: appearance did not reflect that gender, pushed her to seek
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: changes on the system from the Annaparnaexpress dot com. This
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: experience urged Bumika to launch a campaign in two thousand
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: and seven to change the outdated requirements imposed on Nepal's
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: citizenship law, and the Supreme Court ruled that individuals can
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: be identified as other gender on citizenship. Bumika became the
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: first Nepalee trans woman to travel internationally within others identity
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: in her citizenship document. Later, she updated her document from
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: others to female. So this happened in twenty fifteen. So
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: it went from twenty seven to twenty fifteen. It was
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: a long all in a long fire, but she stuck
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: to it and became the first from Nepal to be
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: able to travel in that manner. And I think I
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: want to explain like the third gender, and I think
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: we have talked about that with the two spirit and
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: such when we talked about the Native and Indigenous people,
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: and I don't think we talk about that enough, just
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: talking about the spectrum of gender and what that could be,
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: then non binary and all this such. So she obviously
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: if she changed hers to female, she is trans woman.
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: But like, I think that's really important that we talk
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: about this because I feel like our language is such
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: a hindrance when it comes to identity, So just want
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: to acknowledge all of that, especially when it comes to
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: translations also. So it's a heart scene and since then
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: she has continued to become first in Nepal. In twenty twenty,
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: she was awarded the International Women of Courage by the
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: US Embassy in Nepal. So this is from the NPUs
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: Embassy dot gov site. Transgender activist Bumacus Trista has advocated
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: for gender minority rights and social despite stigma and biases
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: against transgender people. Miss Ssta helped lead the movement of
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: gender minority recognition. Thanks in large part to her activism,
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: in two thousand and seven, Nepal's Supreme Court ruled that
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: the individuals could be identified as third other gender on
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: citizenship documents. Later, in the spring of twenty twenty one,
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: she successfully advocated to change her citizenship document from other
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: to female. We love to see that, and this was
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: in twenty twenty two, when the US cared about human
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: rights anyway. Moving on, she's been working with the Blue
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: Diamond Society, which she explains from her more John Moore's interview. Currently,
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: I am a transgender activist and working in a Blue
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: Diamond Society, which is the institution of working in various
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: aspects for third gender peoples including lesbian's, gays, bisexuals, transgender
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: and intersex. I am now mostly engaged in the advocacy
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: of third gender and actively playing to establish very human
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: rights and identity of third gender in Nepal. So this
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: organization has been working in a paul since two two
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: thousand and one, and they've been working to change policies
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: and outdated government takes since then, including getting gay marriage recognized,
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: prohibition of discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity,
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: as well as getting a third gender marker in there
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: citizenship card and passports. So they've been hard at work
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: for a while now. She became involved in that and
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: they've kind of been not a backbone, but definitely a
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: background player in her work and very supportive of her work.
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: So going back to that interview, Sheristad talks about what
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: she felt was her biggest achievements. So I believe this
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: was written in twenty twenty two. I couldn't find the date,
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: but I know it's not the most recent. But we
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: wanted to include this because it's an actual interview with
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: her and I didn't find many outside of YouTube. So
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: she says this, we as third gender people are now
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: accepted in our society, which is our main achievement. I
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: can't say that I achieved it personally, but has been
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: through the work of myself and many others at the
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: Blue Diamond Society. In the past, we were misperceived by
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: this society as I used to think that we are unnatural,
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: but the situation and perception have now changed. I'm very
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: happy to tell you that the Supreme Court of Nepal
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: has given us identity and has ordered the government to
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: provide us citizenship cars as general people. This is the
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: highest achievement I've achieved Institutionally. There are many acts and
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: regulations passed by the government of Nepal in favor for us.
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: After the decision by the Supreme Court, I got citizenship
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: and passport of my own gender identity. Our new constitution
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: has addressed our issues, so I love that. I love
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: to see a big win. Obviously she was a catalyst
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: in this big win. It was a longer process with
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: like step by step moments of going from other to
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: being female because who wants to be othered in so
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: many ways? But other also could be inclusive of other
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: like non binary. So we also are cool with that
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: because you know, it's better than what we got here.
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: Moving on, and as for her future plans, and I
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: say that she said that that was her biggest accomplishment,
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: then I think that's changed. In that interview she talks
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: about being politically involved and doing more in the government
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: to continue to advocate for the queer community. And yeah,
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: that's what she's done. As of March twenty twenty six,
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: she's become the first trans woman MP in more than
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: a decade. So it says one side says in a
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: decade and the other sides that she's the first as
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: a lawmaker. So take it as you will. So this
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: is from Times of India dot com. Bumikas Trista made
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: history on March sixteenth, twenty twenty six, as the Paul's
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: first transgender woman lawmaker. The thirty seven year old LGBTQ
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: rights activists shared her mixed emotions with AFP. I'm very excited,
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: but also feel the responsibility on my shoulders. Our constitution
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: has provision for our community, but they have not translated
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: to laws and policies. Our community expects me to raise
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: our issues, and yeah, that's a heavy responsibility. We saw
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: that here with lawmakers like Sarah McBride when everybody felt
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: disappointed when she wasn't outright on the left trying to
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: change everything, not knowing how the system works, and the
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: fact that our system is slow and they not so
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: forgiving and helpful when it comes to any matter of
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: fact ideals. You know what I'm saying, Like because I can't.
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: I don't want to say it's extreme, because it's not extreme.
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: Basic humanity should not be extreme. But for some reason
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: in our context, being someone who thinks that trans people
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: are people and should have equal rights seem to be
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: extreme anyway. But so we know that for her this
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: is a huge accomplishment and huge responsibility, So we'll be
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: definitely watching out for her. There's definitely a lot of
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: work ahead for her, but Nepal has become one of
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: South Asia's most progressive areas for the career community. They
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: had a huge protest not too long ago and overthrew
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: some of the dictatorships of the government. So this is big.
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: They've done some big changes and we love to see
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: it and hopefully we can look at them as an example.
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and for sure we'll be checking back in and
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: listeners as always. Let us know if you have any
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: suggestions for the segment, anything we missed. You can email
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: us at Hello at Stuffmannever Told You dot com, give
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: find us on Boduce Gute Mom Stuff podcast or on
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: Instagram and tub talk at stuff We've Never Told You.
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: We're also on YouTube. We have some merchandise at coom
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: Bureau and we have a book you caep you get
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: wherever you get your books. Thanks. It's always to our
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: super producer Chandler and our executive producer Maya. Thank you
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: and thanks to you for listening Stuff Never Told You,
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: production of by Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: Heart Radio, you can check out the heart Radio app,
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: Apple Podcast or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.