CHENNAI: The state government has informed the Madras High Court that separate policies are being drafted for LGBQA+ and trans persons.
The submission was made in a status report of secretary of the Social Welfare Department Jayashree Muralidharan filed through State Public Prosecutor Hasan Mohammed Jinnah before the bench of Justice N Anand Venkatesh on Monday when a petition regarding the issue came up for hearing.
The report said several regional consultative meetings with the stakeholders, including the Social Welfare Department officers, trans community, LGBQA+ community, trans persons welfare activists and representatives of NGOs, were held in February to discuss the issue.
“It is respectfully submitted that the main request raised during the meetings was an exclusive policy for trans persons and reservation in education and employment as they are the vulnerable and marginalised people,” the report said.
Objections were raised by the members of Transgender Welfare Board in a meeting held in February and they pitched for framing the separate policy for trans persons which includes trans women, trans men and inter-sex persons. The status report informed that the English draft of the Tamil Nadu State Policy for Transgender, 2024, was received by the government on May 15 and the Tamil translation will be finalised once the English draft is approved.
It also said action has been taken to revise the draft policy for LGBQA+ community by excluding trans persons and the process will be expedited. Justice Anand Venkatesh granted three months to complete the exercise.