Two people walk into a restaurant in Bangladesh one evening, seat themselves at a table and wonder what they should have for their Iftar meal. Nothing out of the ordinary, right? Except that in this case, these people invite stares and awkward glances from a person who works at the hotel and a few other diners.
All because they're transgender women.
A video 'social experiment' conducted by Robi Axiata Limited, a Bangladeshi telecommunications company, is being shared widely on social media for all the right reasons. The video shows these two trans women entering a restaurant, and people defending their right to dine there when others raise objections.
Once seated, these two transgender women are told by a person who appears to be running the restaurant, to leave. "Madam, you can't sit here. It's problematic for me. I have many customers today," he tells them.
Another man comes into the picture then, telling the trans women to leave because he has paid money to come to the restaurant and doesn't want to see "them" there. He is countered by another man, who questions the first, asking him what right he has to be telling them to leave.
Soon, an elderly man with the skull cap, and a young woman join the argument, with all three of them challenging the first man. "They are here to have Iftar, they will do so, they have equal rights," the old man asserts. The woman tells the trans woman to take a seat, and not leave.
With the argument heating up fast, a man, possibly one of the organisers of the 'experiment' breaks them up and reveals that there are hidden cameras. "We were looking for people like you. People who are raising a voice for their (transgender persons') rights," he says.
And while it is unclear how much of the video was staged, it sure gives out the right message. Watch it here: