A transgender activist recently suggested during a virtual lecture at the
University of South Florida (USF) that it is good for children to be
introduced to the transgender community "at a very young age."
Kalki Subramaniam, who is a self-described celebrated Indian transgender
activist, artist, entrepreneur, poet, actor and inspirational speaker,
delivered a lecture titled "The Power of Art in Social Change" to the USF
Department of Women's and Gender Studies in January.
Subramaniam, who lives in India and founded the Sahodari Foundation, spoke
about an initiative the organization does called the "Walls of Kindness,"
in which several transgender activists travel to remote rural and tribal
villages to paint the walls of schools with art and meet with staff and
young students.
According to the project's website, one of the goals of the project is to
interact with students in an attempt to dispel transphobia and break
"stereotypes about transgender people and establish that we are positive
contributors to this society."
"We establish that transgender people can be changemakers," the website
added.
"We do it because at one side we wanted to give something to the society,"
Subramaniam said of the project during the lecture at USF. The activist
went on to say that painting the walls of the rural schools also gives the
children they interact with "an opportunity for them to learn about us,
for those children to learn about trans community at a very young age."
"They have an exposure to people like us, and I think it will stay with
them for the rest of their lives because we gave them a very beautiful
memory," Subramaniam added.
While sitting next to a portrait of Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara,
Subramaniam spoke for more than an hour about how, "as an artivist, she
has broken stereotypes and continues to establishing social acceptance in
India by encouraging transgender persons to get involved in activism
through art and performances," according to school's description of the
video.
Among the other assertions Subramaniam made during the lecture, the
activist said, "We were not born as women. We don't have a womb, but we
are women. It's just that we are women of another type."
Fox News Digital reached out to Subramaniam for further comment and
specifically asked how the activist would respond to parents who believe
it is inappropriate for children to be discussing issues of gender
identity with someone other than their family. Fox News did not hear back
in time for publication.
USF also did not respond to a request for comment.
https://news.yahoo.com/transgender-activist-suggests-apos-very-
170226966.html