Mumbai: The 135-year-old elite Bombay Gymkhana Club on Friday night threw out a transgender activist Laxmi Tripathi, says a Mumbai Mirror report.
The CEO of the club stormed into a party hosted by one of its members, Ajay Hattangadi, and demanded that one of his guests, transgender activist Laxmi Tripathi, be asked to leave.
The Bombay Gymkhana, like any other club, reserves the right to admission and has its own rules, but the event has caused outrage among club members present at the party.
They allege that the club has infringed on the legal rights of a transgender celebrity who has been invited by the United Nations and other international platforms to represent sexual minorities from India.
The event was to celebrate TedxMumbai, by the Mumbai branch of an international network that deals with technology and society.
Srila Chatterjee, 46, co-owner of swanky live-act club Blue Frog and a member of Bombay Gymkhana for almost 20 years, was privy to this episode at the Far Pavilion party hall.
“It is a disgrace. Everybody has biases, and that is fine with me. But the Bombay Gymkhana has violated the legal rights of an individual. If the law says that it recognises the third sex, Bombay Gymkhana has no right to do this. Ajay Hattangadi, the host, had tears in his eyes. This is the level of humiliation caused. What is left to say?” Chatterjee told Mumbai Mirror.
Recounting the incident, Laxmi said, “I had gone to a queer film festival that very afternoon. I have been to various locations across the city – The Taj, Jehangir Art Gallery – and I've never been told that I cannot enter. I was a speaker at Tedx, and I reached Bombay Gym at 9 pm. I was stopped at the gate. There was a group of people registering their names. I waited. Then the organisers hosting the party stepped forward and got me in.”
Laxmi hobnobbed for an hour with international technocrats before Brig (Retd.) R K Bose, CEO of Bombay Gymkhana, “marched into the Far Pavilion,” alleged Srila Chatterjee. “My husband, Mahesh Mathai, was sitting and talking with Laxmi and Ajay Hattangadi. Soon enough, the CEO asked Ajay to step aside. This is when the trouble began,” said Chatterjee. Laxmi added, “He said that I should leave, or the gym memberships of the hosts would be cancelled. The entire party staged a walkout in disgust.”
But Chatterjee, for her part, is adamant. “I don't care what happens to my membership. The sheer humiliation it has caused to an individual is unpardonable in a democracy. I live by what I believe in. I don't care about the Bombay Gymkhana.”
While several other members expressed similar sentiments but declined to come on record, Nandini Sardesai, former professor and wife of cricketer Dilip Sardesai, said she was disturbed with the incident. “Just because someone is a transgender individual you cannot discriminate in this manner, unless the person has misbehaved. I suspect that some members complained to the CEO forcing him to take action, otherwise he wouldn't have intervened at 10 pm,” she said.
Laxmi is now planning to lead a morcha from Azad Maidan to Bombay Gymkhana, and even file a police complaint.
“My issue is dignity and respect. A guest list had been sent to the club prior to the event. My name was on it. If they had an issue about a transgendered person being present, they should have raised it at that stage. How different is this from the British era, when Indians and dogs were not allowed at Bombay Gymkhana? I don't want to make a big tamasha about this, but I will be filing a police complaint alleging discrimination.”
Brig (Retd.) R K Bose refused to comment on the issue despite several attempts, but another official from Bombay Gymkhana, who did not wish to be named, said: “We follow certain principles and these may have been violated. The rules clearly say that members and guests have to be dignified. This said, there is no clarity on our admission policy for transgender people. The Gymkhana management will be inquiring into the matter.” Countering this, Chatterjee said, “This was a private party hosted by a member. Is someone who has been in .
