Shreegauri Sawant
Shreegauri (Gauri) Sawant is a transgender activist from Mumbai, India.[1] She is the director of Sakhi Char Chowghi that helps transgender people and people with HIV/AIDS.[2] She was featured in an ad by Vicks.[3][4][5] She was made the goodwill ambassador of Election Commission in Maharashtra.[6]
Early life
[edit | edit source]Sawant was born and raised in Pune. Her mother died when she was seven years old and she was raised by her grandmother. Her father is a police officer. She left her house at the age of 14 or 15 as she didn't want to be a disappointment for her dad.[7]
Activism
[edit | edit source]Sawant founded the Sakhi Char Chowghi Trust in 2000. The NGO promotes safe sex and provides counselling to transgender people.[7] In 2014, she became the first transgender person to file a petition in the Supreme Court of India for adoption rights of transgender people.[8] She was a petitioner in the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) case (National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India) in which the Supreme Court recognised transgender as the third gender.[1] Sawant adopted a girl named Gayatri in 2008 after Gayatri's mother died of AIDS.[8][9][7][10]
Personal life and family
[edit | edit source]Sawant has an adopted daughter, whom she adopted at the age of 4. Sawant said in an interview that she had adopted her after her biological mother, a sex worker who died from AIDS, left her alone to be sold in the sex-trafficking industry.[11]
In popular culture
[edit | edit source]In 2017, Sawant was featured in an advertisement by Vicks as part of the company's "Touch of Care" campaign. It showed the story of Sawant and her adopted daughter.[3]
A TV series named Taali on JioCinema featuring Sushmita Sen in the role of Gauri Sawant.[12]
References
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- ^ a b c Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).[permanent dead link]
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- ^ YouTube- Gauri Suresh Sawant interview, TedX
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