As Anjaann Joshii of SPACE puts it: “You can sing, dance, bless, curse—but that’s it.” 正如SPACE的安佳佳·佐丝所言，你可载歌载舞，也可携福撒咒，但你也就仅限于此。

　　The linguistic roots of the word hijra convey a sense of leaving one’s tribe. 从语言学来看，海吉拉斯的词根流露着一股“离群感”。

　　Many hijras find life in a new community, usually called a dera, run by a guru-mother. 许多海吉拉斯会组建一个新部落，通常称作dera，由一位“古鲁妈妈”统领。

　　Yet such protection comes at a cost. 但这种保护并非“免费午餐”。

　　Three of the five hijras whom Banyan met in Old Delhi had been castrated. Banyan曾在旧德里拜访过五位海吉拉斯，其中三位已接受阉割。

　　In modern practice, the surgical element of a sex change takes place at the very end of a careful process of counselling, hormone therapy and plastic surgery. 按现代惯例，变性人在接受手术前，都会进行一系列严谨的步骤，比如先进行咨询，后接受荷尔蒙治疗，再接受塑形手术。

　　But for many hijras, surgery would be too grand a term for the removal of the testicles and penis  但对于多数海吉拉斯而言，他们大多连麻醉剂都不会注射，在仅服用酒精或大麻的情况下，就切除睾丸和阴茎，

　　and the insertion of a silver pin into the urethra, with no anaesthetic but alcohol and marijuana. 把银制针管塞进尿道，若将此称作手术，可谓荒谬。

　　Worse, many gurus are mafia bosses running rackets in defined territories. 许多古鲁是在特定地区行骗的团伙头目，对海吉拉斯而言，这可谓是雪上加霜。

　　They pocket four-fifths of hijras’ earnings. 他们吸纳了海吉拉斯五分之四的收入。

　　Any hijra setting up as a guru herself risks murder. 若有海吉拉斯想自立门户，她可得小心人头落地了。

　　And running away to another dera, even if to the far end of the country, will be reported back to the guru. 无论是逃跑到其他dera，还是跑到国家边境，他们的行踪依旧逃不出古鲁的掌控。

　　It is, in effect, a system of bonded labour. 实际上，这就是一种包身工制度。

　　And when you die, say the hijras, your guru won’t even come to claim your corpse—unless there is gold to strip off it. 海吉拉斯说，若你死去，古鲁甚至不会认领你的尸首，除非你身上还有钱让他们搜刮。

　　There is even less protection for those who sell sex or beg. 那些从事性工作和乞讨的变性人就更缺乏保护了。

　　Mehak, a trans beggar, faces violence in male shelters and is refused entry to female ones, so she sleeps in a park each night. Mehak是一位变性乞讨者，她在男性收容所受尽欺凌，又无法进入女性收容所，所以她只能每夜睡在公园。

　　Every few days, young thugs steal her paltry takings at knifepoint. 每隔几天，一些小流氓就用刀威迫她交出其微乎其微的钱财。

　　Although the courts in some Asian countries are beginning to uphold transgender rights, laws are often confused and enforcement rare. 尽管一些亚洲国家的司法机关开始维护变性人的权利。但相关法律经常含糊不清且甚少得以实施。

　　In 2014 India’s Supreme Court recognised a third gender, yet the British-era penal code still criminalises sexual activities against the “order of nature”. 印度最高法院在2014年承认了第三性别的合法地位，但其英属刑法仍将“违反自然规律”的性行为定罪。

　　The current draft of a bill working its way through Parliament enshrines transgender rights by mandating inclusive education for trans children, and special employment and health provisions. 近期，一份于国会通过的草案将大幅提高变性人的权利，它包括变性儿童的独特义务教育、特殊雇佣制度和医疗健康保障。

　　Yet it denies individuals the right to “self-identify” —ie, choose their own gender, a key desire. 但它否定个人“个体身份”的权利，例如变性人最渴望的选择自身性别。

　　That would be left to “experts” instead. 换而言之，这就将由“专家”来定断你的性别了。

　　Trans activists are lobbying to have that changed. 变性运动分子正在游说政府对此作出改变。

　　Elsewhere in the region, the law is an ass. 在亚洲其他地区，变性人的相关法律形同虚设。

　　Several Pacific nations ban cross-dressing (another hand-me-down from prudish Victorians). 几个太平洋国家禁止人们穿着异装（谈性色变的维多利亚风俗再现）。

　　Even in Thailand, supposedly tolerant to cross-dressingmen, vagrancy laws are used to harass transwomen. 人们一般认为泰国会对异装男士比较包容，但即使在这里，变性女性常因流浪罪受到骚扰。

　　In Cambodia police conduct regular round-ups of trans women under public-safety laws and demand bribes to let them go. 在柬埔寨，警察经常以公共安全名义围堵变性女性，要她们上交贿赂才放行。

　　Many countries still define transsexualism as a mental illness. 许多国家仍将变性定义为一种心理疾病。

　　Trans people adopting children is illegal in most Asian countries. 在大多数亚洲国家，变性人收养孩子都算违法。

　　Activist groups like SPACE have made strides in a few short years. 数年来，像SPACE这种变性人运动组织已经竭尽全力维护变性人利益。

　　But they are baby steps for what needs to come. 但就变性人群体所需而言，这宛如沧海一粟。