The story of Soundarya Gopi, a transgender social activist who has made a name for herself by helping people in her community.
The story of Soundarya Gopi, a transgender social activist who has made a name for herself by helping people in her community.
A decade ago, when she was in Coimbatore for Sahodari Foundation’s Kovai Rainbow Festival, Soundarya Gopi was a shy young girl who didn’t speak much. However, today Soundarya, who hails from the transgender community, is a completely different person. When she took to the stage to receive the Transgender Icon Award at Kumaraguru College of Technology last week, she was confident and ready. Chennai-based Soundarya is now a social activist, and was in the city to attend the Visibility Awards. The event was organized by Sahodari Foundation in view of International Transgender Day Visibility on 31st March.
Soundarya was born and brought up in Royapuram, Chennai. She was forced to leave home at an early age due to non-supportive parents. His life was one of struggle and constant search: to have true friends and a means to stand on his own feet. Today, tell anyone in her Ernavoor neighborhood her name and they will point you to her home. “Everybody knows me there,” she says while speaking on the phone from Chennai.
Many transgender people come in search of Soundarya. “I help them apply for government documents like Aadhaar card, PAN card, community certificate and voter ID,” she says. It is not that they have any connection in government offices. “I just go with them and talk to relevant people on their behalf, asking them what document proof is needed,” she says: “I speak as firmly as I mean business.”
Navigating government offices, their many departments, and their many employees can be confusing for anyone. “It is even more difficult for transgender people, as many of them are met with harsh words,” says Soundarya. “I know a lot of people who are gone. Sometimes, we need to clearly state our rights, if the people on the other side don’t remember them.”
Soundarya is the Technical Consultant of Snegithi, a community-based organization with its office in Tondiarpet, Chennai. During the early months of the pandemic, she was part of a community kitchen run by transgender people, which provided free food to the homeless and ambulance drivers in Chennai.
Soundarya is practicing dance when she is not helping people in her community. “I do folk and western works and perform in stage shows across Tamil Nadu,” she says. In the best moments of her life, being recognized for her work by fellow transgender activist Kalki Subramaniam. “When I met him for the first time in 2009, he told me, ‘I believe in your ability’,” recalls Soundarya. “Those are the words no one ever forgets.”