Jaya Sahodharan, organiser, activist
Jaya Sahodharan | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Back in 2014, the National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India (2014) became a landmark judgement of the Supreme Court of India, which declared transgender people the ‘third gender’, and gave us the right to self-identification of our gender as male, female or third gender. This is after years of being humiliated, shamed, removed from our homes, and being left to fend for ourselves on the streets. The 2014 judgement gave us self-respect. So did late Chief Minister M K Karunanidhi, who bestowed upon us the term ‘Thirunangai’ -- respectful woman -- instead of the archaic ‘Aravani’. Tamil Nadu then progressed, eliminating the need for medical examination to be determined trans. We did not have to ever lift our skirts up to prove who we were. We created welfare boards, joined the Corporation as members of advisory committees, helped secure housing, and started studying, and even working in firms and systems that once rejected us. The change has been slow yet steady in the state. This new Bill fundamentally robs us of dignity and sets us back many years. It makes us existential. “Am I not trans enough under this Bill” it makes us ask. To change that, we will fight.
