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Culturally, bissu as one of the gender diversities in Bugis had an important role in a kingdom in the past. Bissu is a phenomenon of transvestites written in classic manuscripts of ancient Bugis. Some calabai (transvestites in local languages) in Bugis chose to be bissu to get recognition. The purpose of this research is to explore the journey of calabai to become bissu and reveal the motives of calabai who chose to be bissu in South Sulawesi. This research applied a phenomenological approach with ten bissu as informants in four regencies in South Sulawesi. The data were collected through observation, interviews, and documentation, and were analyzed using interactive models with data validity checking techniques and triangulation. The result reveals that calabai is a marginalized community since generally, their existence has not been accepted and is not approved in Indonesia, including in South Sulawesi …