‘The Hijra community is a testament to the history and legacy of queer South Asians’

‘The Hijra community is a testament to the history and legacy of queer South Asians’

This South Asian Heritage Month, Just Like Us ambassador Rush Mittal is drawing attention to the region’s third gender – a community often overlooked. WORDS BY RUSH MITTAL I never heard the word “Hijra” in school. No teacher ever mentioned that South Asia has legally recognised trans and non-binary identities for centuries. Instead, I learned about gender as a rigid binary, an unyielding structure where deviation meant exclusion, shame, or silen…