On the International Day of Transgender Visibility, let us really listen to what these communities have to say
Tashnuva Anan Shishir’s appointment as the first trans news anchor in Bangladesh received a largely positive response on social media earlier this month, and some deadnaming and mislabelling aside, was covered by print and broadcast media quite sensitively, too.
As is the case with any progressive-leaning news, however, it did also trigger a good number of extremist replies, focusing particularly on how the terms “transgender” and “Hijra” aren’t the same thing, and how people really ought to know one from the other before applauding them. It would’ve saved them a lot of work if they’d only paid more attention to professionals and organizations working in the field telling them the same thing for ages.