Another Transgender First

 "Leyna Bloom" has become the first transgender woman of color to  be featured in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue.

Leyna is an American actress, model, dancer and activist. The Swimsuit issue is not her first big feature as she was the first openly transgender woman of color to appear in Vogue India.

From India with Love

 Gaurav Arora (below) who is now known as Gauri Arora is a known TV personality and has been a part of many Bollywood and television projects.  Before her sex change, she had participated in the reality show Splitsvilla and then took part in India's Next Top Model as Gauri Arora after having undergone  sex-realignment surgery. Back then, she had said that it takes a lot of courage to accept the reality and come out in public

. "I hope my stint on the show gives courage to a lot of people."

Gauri Arora

 Gauri Arora is an Indian model. She is known for participating in Khiladi Ka Ghar 1 and MTV Splitsville. 

Here is a "before and after" picture:

    

From India with Love

India has a new Miss Transqueen -- and she's headed for the world stage, determined to speak out for the country's marginalized transgender community.

Fashion designer Shaine Soni (below) was crowned Miss Transqueen India, the country's beauty pageant for transgender women, on Saturday. She will represent India at next year's Miss International Queen, the world's biggest pageant for transgender women. 

Nikey Chawla

From India, this in an excerpt from an interview with transsexual star Nikey Chawla:

"first of all, I would like to educate others that the Trans community is vast. People in Western countries have different definitions of Transgender than people in India.

I have gone through proper medical treatment and support. All my documents have been changed and updated. I am a transsexual, a female soul who was trapped in a wrong body, but with hard work and medical help I got a SRS (Sex Reassignment Surgery) done. The Indian Government also supports this under Medical Term.

Nikey Chawla

I turned my weakness into my strength. People who said ‘No’ to me, who denied me work as they found me different and not acceptable by society, are now the ones who give me opportunities, love and respect. When I chose To Be ‘Me’ I got recognition. I believe be yourself with pride and the world will accept you. Yes I have many problems but someone had to take initiative. I took the initiative and became the voice and the face of transgirls openly. Now, I feel proud that in last 10 years a lot of new transgirls and transboys are showcasing their talents proudly and living the life they want. I feel proud."

For more of the interview go to the "We for News" site here.

From India...Transgender Success

These posts come from a site called Trending and feature several successful transgender stories. The first of which is "Nazz Joshi" trans model and winner of the Miss World Diversity 2019:


The second is Anjali Ameer, the first transsexual to play a lead role in an Indian Movie:


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For more, go here To the Indian Times..

Stepping Up In India

Kalki Subramaniam is a journalist, writer, actor and activist. She holds two masters: in Journalism and Mass Communication and International Relations. Now, she is an entrepreneur. She is also a transgender. That makes her, she says, India's first transgender entrepreneur.

Rediff.com recently published an interview with this great transgender role model. Read it here.