however since the other minorities felt offended on being put in the same bracket the matter was put on hold these surgeries are very expensive costing above 2lakhs informs krishna we need to be identified as a group for instance even for a simple thing like going to the hospital for a medical check up i feel humiliated when the staff asks me to shift between the mens and womens queues homosexuality might have been decriminalised but the ostracism continues the above instance clearly points out that the single biggest issue that the lgbt community faces is stigma this includes reservation in employment education getting voter id cards ration cards as well as eligibility for loans fight for recognition in 2010 former chief minister of andhra pradesh rosaiah introduced a bill that put the transgender community in the minority welfare category the walk went unnoticed as media coverage had also been avoided for the same reason despite the fact that over 3000 transgenders from 23 organisations from all over andhra pradesh participated still in the closet even six months ago when a pride walk was held from the nizam college grounds to public gardens majority of the participants had covered their faces with masks embarrassed to reveal their identity we have formed the transgender welfare association and are asking the state government to recognise this association the government thinks that our numbers are very less and thus we are ignored we need to tell people that they are not alone after all sexual identity is not something we can fight but thats not true kartik teja a volunteer with an organisation working for lgbt causes feels that the need of the hour is to integrate the lgbt community in the society in a manner where they will feel accepted it took 23 long years for the city of nawabs to witness its first rainbow film festival ever since it kickstarted in the us in 1989 to highlight the cause of the lesbian gay bisexual transgender lgbt community following the fight for recognition various lgbt communities in the state have now joined hands to form the transgender welfare association which will demand social facilities for the lgbt community just like any other citizen from the government the more the awareness increases the better the chances for change the twoday affair had a mere 60 people in attendance many have even complained of being mistreated by the police and being humiliated in public as the transgender welfare association awaits government recognition it is already preparing a draft of the demands that they want to present to the government its nothing that we have chosen one more pride walk despite the struggle and the stigma there is still hope rukhsar a 26yearold transgender says i ran away from home at the age of 16 when my family disowned me its who we are says a transgender on condition of anonymityafrinhumayontimesgroupcom but even now i feel ostracised on a daily basis following some recent