Bangladesh’s first transgender newsreader breaks down into tears after debut on national TV

Bangladesh’s first transgender news presenter made her debut on national television on Monday after which she broke down into tears.

As per reports, there are almost 1.5 million transgender people in Bangladesh, who face severe discrimination and violence and are often left to live by begging, sex trade or crime.

The experience of Tashnuva Anan Shishir, who delivered the three-minute news bulletin on the private Boishakhi TV was historic.

Born Kamal Hossain Shishir, she learnt in her early teens she was trapped in a man’s body. She says she was sexually assaulted and bullied for years.

“The bullying was so unbearable I attempted suicide four times. My father stopped talking to me for years,” said Shishir.

“When I couldn’t cope with it any more, I left home … I couldn’t stand the neighbours telling my father about how I should act or walk in a masculine way.”

She escaped her home in a southern coastal district to live alone in the capital Dhaka and then in the central city of Narayanganj.

There she went through the hormone therapy. She did jobs working for charities and acted in theatres, while continuing her studies.

In January she was the first transgender person to study for a master’s in public health at the James P Grant School of Public Health in Dhaka.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government has since 2013 allowed trans people to be identified as a separate gender and in 2018 they were given the right to vote as a third gender.

Shishir’s broadcast coincided with International Women’s Day and followed a series of steps by public and private firms to overcome deep-seated prejudices against the community.

Julfikar Ali Manik, a spokesperson for Boishakhi TV said the channel was determined to give Shishir an opportunity to prove herself despite the risk of backlash from some viewers in the conservative country. Her debut marked a “historic step,” he added.

Shishir said she approached other channels for the auditions but only Boishakhi was “brave enough to take me in.”

Ahead of going live for Monday’s broadcast she was terrified, she expressed, but managed to get the better of her fears.

“I tried to think of stage dramas I’ve performed in and follow techniques I’ve learned there. But I was shaking inside,” she said.

“I don’t want any members of the (transgender) community to suffer. I don’t want them to live a miserable life. I hope they will find work according to their skills,” she said.