As many as 300 transgender persons protested near the District Collectorate demanding that the Transgender Bill Amendment be withdrawn on Monday in Chennai.
The proposed amendment proposes to remove the right to a self-perceived gender identity and introduces the requirement for a medical board to determine whether a person is transgender based on a new definition of ‘transgender person’.
Transgender rights activists noted that these amendments violate the fundamental rights guaranteed under the Indian Constitution and contradicts the historic 2014 NALSA judgment by the Supreme Court. “The NALSA judgment affirmed the right to self-identification, recognising that every person has the right to determine and declare their own gender identity with dignity and autonomy,” said an activist.
Noting that now a transgender identity card will be given only after gender affirmation surgery Guru (name changed), a trans man said that we have regressed to an earlier time where the doctors and officials would decide their identity. “No longer can we speak for ourselves or our feelings. We will have to get the surgery, to get the identification card. We can’t just say and get our identification done,” he noted.
