First transpersons news portal promises to highlight their struggles, sell own products

“The news portal will have contents of both the struggles and stories of transpersons. The site will show the other side of them, which most of the people would not have seen,” Priya Babu, editor, Transnews, told DT Next.

Priya Babu, who runs a research centre for transpersons, has been involved in several initiatives for the welfare of transpersons, including employing them, by running a dry cleaning shop, where training is also provided. Following several initiatives, Priya Babu came up with an online portal, which publishes news in English and Tamil. “Online portal for transpersons was on my mind for quite some time and we used lockdown period to bring it out. The bilingual portal will have articles covering transgenders across the nation. We will soon bring out articles in Hindi too,” said Priya Babu. The content for the news portal is provided by three transgender reporters from Chennai, Tiruvallur and Coimbatore apart from six content generators, who are college students. However, the most important part of the portal is the online shopping section, which sells products manufactured by them. “We display products of a textile shop run by a transperson in Chennai. Apart from that, all the models displayed in the shopping section are also transpersons,” she said.

The portal also has a jobs section, where both job providers and seekers can post their requirements. “At present, two resumes of transgenders have been posted online and interested people can contact us,” she added.