Gautam Gambhir sports a bindi, dupatta to support transgender community

When former national cricketer, Gautam Gambhir was invited as a chief guest at the Hijara Habba event held at Delhi's Select Citywalk, Saket, New Delhi, he broke all stereotypes by donning a bindi and a dupatta. He was endorsing his support of the recent Supreme Court landmark verdict reading down Section 377, criminalising homosexuality.

Hijara Habba is an annual event of LGBTQI community members and supporters. Every year it is organised in partnership with an NGO, Alliance India.

The theme of this year's Hijara Habba event was, 'Born This Way', which sought to spread the message of acceptance of the trans community. It was also aimed to empower them to fight against social injustice.

In an interview with Hindustan Times, Gautam said,`

I am really happy that Section 377 has been scrapped and I want to congratulate everyone for this judgement. I am supporting them (the community) and the cause of this event, which is to accept the community as they are. One thing I can assure that we can’t grow and move forward without involving anyone. They are as Indian as we are and should be treated with dignity and respect.

A game held as part of the event saw the hugely popular cricketer donning a dupatta and bindi. In the game, Gambhir had to pass through a tunnel, which had several stops. If a man entered, he would be given a bindi with a dupatta, while a woman would be given a false moustache to stick on. At the stop, people would be asked, "With this attire on, do you feel any different?", says News 18.

The purpose of the game was to make an ordinary person realise to some extent, what a transgender person feels in India.

This isn't the first time that Gautam Gambhir has shown his support to the community. Earlier this year, he had celebrated Raksha Bandhan with the trans community at an event, where transgender people had tied rakhis on his wrist.

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