article_snippet: Earlier this year, India's first transgender mayor was elected and less than 12 months ago the Supreme Court granted legal recognition to the community as a third gender.
article_snippet: Less than 12 months ago the Supreme Court granted legal recognition to the community as a third gender .
article_snippet: The rights of transgender people may be changing, but even the country's first mayor has admitted to being a former beggar .
article_snippet: Even the country's first transgender mayor is a former beggar.
article_snippet: But in January, Madhu Bai Kinnar began leading Madhu Bai Kinnar community as India's first transgender mayor - a dramatic election result that upends cultural mores in the traditionally conservative country.
article_snippet: Madhu Bai Kinnar, centre, has become India's first-ever transgender mayor after abandoning Saranya life of singing and dancing for change to put Saranya forward to represent her community .
article_snippet: Kinnar's win comes nine months after India's top court ruled that transgenders be legally recognised as gender-neutral.
highlights_snippet: Recognition as a third gender granted and first transgender mayor elected .
  