Brides Today, a wedding magazine for brides in India, has drawn backlash after it featured a “trans-feminine” person on its cover. Trans poet, comedian, and activist Alok Vaid-Menon, who goes by “ALOK,” is shown in several cover photos wearing womens’ wedding apparel from jewelry to a head covering and a dress for its digital magazine.
According to Fox News, Brides Today shared the photos on Instagram, where they received widespread criticism from users saying the photos were disrespectful to women.
The photos also went viral with over three million views after being shared by the account “End Wokeness” on Twitter. “The woke pandemic has reached India,” the account tweeted. Several Twitter users responded in disbelief, asking if the photos were fake and posting vomiting emojis.
Some critics highlighted a since-deleted controversial Facebook post from 2016 where the activist allegedly said in response to bans on transgender women using girls’ restrooms, “Little girls are also kinky. Your kids aren’t as straight and narrow as you think.”
In the accompanying Brides Today interview, the activist complained about being bullied, the need to affirm transgender identities, and India’s ban on same-sex marriage. Vaid-Menon slammed the “continued discrimination” against the trans community.
“The reason LGBTQI+ people are hunted is because we have the audacity to embrace authenticity and autonomy in a world that prescribes conformity. People take their own insecurities and project them at us. If they were secure in themselves, they wouldn’t seek to deny and disappear us.
In other words: the continued discrimination against our community is an indication of the mental health struggle of our non-LGBTQI peers. What’s needed then is the promotion of positive mental health for all. What’s needed is the creation of a culture tied together with love, not shame,” Vaid-Menon said.
