Navy Sailor To Lose Her Job After Coming Out As Transgender

–To be trapped in a body that doesn’t feel like your own is a terrifying way to live. For millions of transgender individuals the world over this daily hell is their reality. In these situations the chance at sex reassignment can look like a blessing from above and so it was for Sabi. Born Mk Giri, an Indian male, Sabi never felt like she fit in the body she had been given. At 18 he joined the Indian Navy in Visakapatnam and that feeling of unease only grew stronger. A few years into his service he decided to make the leap and undergo sex reassignment surgery and return with his true persona, Sabi.

Some time after she returned from leave after the surgery, Sabi developed a urinary tract infection and was forced to consult the doctors within the Navy base. Until then she had kept the truth hidden and nobody was aware of her sex change. When the Navy personnel discovered this, they admitted her to the psychiatric ward where she languished for six months before they decided to deal with her case. She was placed in the male ward and was guarded by three men around the clock.

Though Sabi was determined to continue her role in the Navy but word came from the Ministry of Defence for her immediate discharge on the grounds that females cannot work in defence services as soldiers”. She is even being forced to forfeit her pension since it only comes into effect after 15 years of service. This incident is in direct opposition to the tremendous leaps the Indian government has been making to redirect transgender Indians into mainstream society. But LGBTQ rights aside, perhaps the issue that should be in question is the lack of female representation in the Indian armed forces. As long as a person is able to meet all the mental and physical requirements of the job, why should their sex make a difference. As Sabi so aptly puts it “I was selected based on my talent in the Navy, but I am being discharged due to my gender.”