Shreegauri Sawant ''aka'' Gauri Sawant is a

transgender activist The transgender rights movement is a movement to promote the legal status of transgender people and to eliminate discrimination and violence against transgender people regarding housing, employment, public accommodations, education, and health c ...

from

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. She is the director of Sakhi Char Chowghi that helps transgender people and people with

HIV/AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...

. She was featured in an ad by

Vicks Vicks is an American brand of over-the-counter medications owned by the American companies Procter & Gamble and Helen of Troy Limited. Vicks manufactures NyQuil and its sister medication, DayQuil as well as other medications in the “Quil” lin ...

. She was made the goodwill ambassador of

Election Commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

in Maharashtra.

Early life

Sawant was born as Ganesh and raised in

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

. 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.

Activism

Gauri founded the Sakhi Char Chowghi Trust in 2000. The NGO promotes safe sex and provides counselling to transgender people. In 2014, she became the first transgender person to file a petition in the Supreme Court of India for adoption rights of transgender people. She was a petitioner in the National Legal Services Authority ( NALSA) case in which the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

recognised transgender as the

third gender Third gender is a concept in which individuals are categorized, either by themselves or by society, as neither man nor woman. It is also a social category present in societies that recognize three or more genders. The term ''third'' is usually ...

. Gauri adopted a girl named Gayatri in 2008 after Gayatri's mother died of AIDS.

Personal life and family

Gauri has an adopted daughter, whom she adopted at the age of 4. Gauri said in an interview that she had adopted her after her biological mother, a sex worker who had died from

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

, leaving her alone, to be sold in the sex-trafficking industry.

In popular culture

In 2017, Gauri was featured in a
ad by Vicks
The ad was part of Vicks' ‘Touch of Care’ campaign and showed the story of Gauri and her adopted daughter. In 2022, a web series ''Taali'' featuring Sushmita Sen in the role of Gaurii Sawant was announced.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sawant, Gauri Indian LGBT people Transgender rights activists LGBT rights activists from India Year of birth missing (living people) Living people