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Neysara

2018 Fellow

Founder, TransgenderIndia.com

Photo_NeysaraRai
India

Neysara is a human rights activist and founder of TransgenderIndia.com. She is a strong believer in the power of awareness and knowledge as tools to help people, particularly when amplified through technology. Through her initiative, TransgenderIndia.com, she empowers thousands of transgender people across India with awareness and knowledge to make informed choices, thereby preventing them from being lured into sexual or labor trafficking in the name of culture or tradition. In India, transgender people are seen as sub-human, and trafficking of transgender people is not even considered trafficking, but a cultural tradition that is neither questioned by the state nor by the young persons that partake in it. Currently the information on the TransgenderIndia platform is translated into six major Indian languages, helping information break through socio-economic and language barriers.

Neysara also started the first ever trans-specific online discussion forum in India called “TALK”, which allows trans-people around the country to question and discuss issues about gender, life, career, and transition. “TALK” helps establish people-to-people connection between transgender people who are otherwise often isolated.

Neysara was selected as a 2018 Global Freedom Exchange Fellow.