India's third-gender community balances acceptance with religious identity

by Yasmine Canga-Valles and Olivia Lace-Evans

July 21, 2015

c. 2015 Religion News Service

AHMEDABAD, India (RNS) Tucked away in the Gomtipur ghetto sits the dusty pink home of Shobha, Shilpa, and Joya, members of Ahmedabad’s small hijra community.

Hijras, India’s “third gender,” have performed ancestral rituals and ceremonies across India for centuries without legal recognition. That changed in April 2014 when a Supreme Court ruling and the Rights of Transgender Persons Bill recognized them for the first time.

Science is finally catching up with Teilhard de Chardin

Frank and Mary Frost, the filmmakers behind a recent PBS documentary about the Jesuit paleontologist, have long seen him as a true visionary.

Interview by Jessica Mesman

Features

When Superman deconstructs

Many have criticized the new film’s twist on its hero’s origin story. I found it powerfully resonant.

by Chris Thiessen

Books

Jack Caputo’s insistent, nonexistent God

According to the radical theologian, “God’s essence is in our hands.”

by Jesse Lava

Faith Matters

For richer, for poorer

About a dozen years ago, I took a bunch of rich kids from midtown Atlanta on a mission trip to rural Kentucky. To be fair, many of them did not know they were rich....

by Barbara Brown Taylor

India's third-gender community balances acceptance with religious identity

Most Recent

ELCA elects first Black presiding bishop, calls Israel's actions in Gaza a genocide

Tenderness under pressure

Practicing gratitude in hard times (Psalm 107)

How politicians use the Bible

Most Popular

Science is finally catching up with Teilhard de Chardin

When Superman deconstructs

Jack Caputo’s insistent, nonexistent God

For richer, for poorer