Abhina Aher
vAn LGBT rights activist was left totally embarrassed after airport officials laughed at her for being a transgender. A transgender Indian woman was left humiliated, harassed and intimidated by Abu Dhabi airport officials as she tried to board a plane to India.
Dailymail reports that Abhina Aher a transgender, an LGBT rights activist from India was forcefully frisked by male officials during an incident at the airport.
This led an embarrassing situation where Aher felt 'helpless, humiliated and harassed'.
According to the report, Aher was travelling to India early Friday morning when she faced uncomfortable questions from the Abu Dhabi airport officials who were seemingly perplexed by her transgender status. They embarrassing asked her about her gender infront of other passengers.
Aher was travelling to India from Kenya via Abu Dhabi airport. During the security check the metallic detector beeped twice.
“The metal detector beeped twice because of the jewelry, I was wearing. I was asked to step forward for screening. They took my passport and the first thing they asked me what did ‘T’ in the gender column meant. I told them it meant transgender,” said Aher.
Aher's got into a humiliating situation as the officials openly asked if she was a man or a woman.
“I was embarrassed. I tried to tell them in their own language, but instead of being sensitive they started laughing. I told them I would cooperate with them in frisking provided they let a female officer carry out the procedure. To my dismay, the female officials refused after a man said ‘I was a half man and a half woman’.”
Aher was very scared and there was no one to contact, and her passport was taken away.
“The passengers were watching and the official was not ready to return my passport. Later, two male officers forcefully tried to enter the box and frisk me after the female officers refused. They were getting suspicious why I was not letting them touch my body because I insisted a woman should do that,” she alleged.
With time flying, Aher said that she gave up and wanted to return safely.
“I told them that anyone of them could frisk me but then it would be a human rights issue. A senior official came and asked me to remove all my jewellery and again pass the metal detector. I was all clear. I collected my baggage and requested for my passport and boarded the plane.”
The spokesperson for UAE embassy in India called the incident as 'unfortunate'.
However, no formal statement was received from the embassy despite assurance given by their officials.
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