"Now, would anyone come out as a transgender person in the country?” laments Syama S Prabha, expressing her anguish over the latest amendments to Transgender Persons Bill, which was passed in Parliament recently.
“It is an existential crisis. If the new Bill becomes an Act, I will no longer be considered a transgender person,” she explains.
It’s not just her. Over 90 per cent of the nearly four lakh transgender people in the country will be out of the ambit of the Bill, Syama points out.
Indeed, this growing anguish among the community has now manifested in the streets as well, with several, including Syama, taking out a protest march in Delhi.
‘Narrow definition’
According to the Transgender Persons Act of 2019, a transgender person is defined as someone “whose gender does not match the gender assigned to that person at birth.”
It includes trans-men or trans-women (whether or not such a person has undergone sex reassignment surgery or hormone therapy), persons with intersex variations, genderqueer, and persons having such socio-cultural identities as kinner, hijra, aravani and jogta.
With the latest amendments, that definition has narrowed.
Moving away from the landmark 2014 NALSA judgment and the 2019 Act, the new Bill only recognises cultural identities like kinner, hijra, aravani and jogta along with intersex people, Syama says.“Why such a regressive move now?” she asks.
“The Bill takes away the right to a self-perceived gender identity,” she elaborated, adding, “While it reintroduced the defunct term eunuch, it excludes transmen as well as a majority of transwomen who don’t belong to communities like hijra or kinner.”
Additionally, according to Syama, the Bill makes the recognition of gender identity inaccessible.
As per the 2019 Act, a transgender person could submit a form (as attested in the Act), along with an affidavit declaring their gender identity. Based on this, the district magistrate was responsible for issuing the certification of identity.
“It did not require any medical or physical examination.” However, the 2026 amendment says that the magistrate can only issue the certificate after examining the recommendation of the “authority”. The authority here is a medical board, headed by a chief medical officer or a deputy chief medical officer.
“These changes can nullify our existing national IDs,” she says.
‘Only recognises communities from north’
Adv Padma Lakshmi, the first transgender lawyer from Kerala, holds a similar view. “The Bill is exclusionary, and it will make us always live in fear,” she says.
“When the amendments come into effect, no transgender persons in Kerala, who are not intersex, would be under the purview of the Bill. It will only recognise the traditional communities from the country’s northern half. Those who come out and transition on their own volition will not be considered as transgender persons,” Padma explains.
‘Complete annihilation’
Any person or child who has been, by force, allurement, inducement, deceit or undue influence, either with or without consent, compelled to assume, adopt, or outwardly present a transgender identity, by mutilation, emasculation, castration, amputation, or any surgical, chemical, or hormonal procedure or otherwise
She points to the definition of a transgender individual.
“This can effectively penalise community building and bonding, and alienating individuals” she says.
According to her, the Bill assigns transgender identity as unnatural and abnormal. Look at the next sentence, she says.
Provided that it shall not include, nor shall ever have been so included, persons with different sexual orientations and self-perceived sexual identities.
“A complete annihilation,” Padma calls it.
Now, Padma and many others are scared, angry, and eager to find a remedy.
“We have to approach the court. We can’t allow for an erosion of our rights. It is unconstitutional and goes against the SC judgment,” Padma asserts.
‘Transmen completely excluded’
Meanwhile, Arjun Geetha, a transman, is completely shocked by the news of this Bill. “I’m not a transgender person as per the amendments. It is completely diabolical that such a Bill was ever presented and passed,” he says.
Arjun’s life was already difficult before these recent changes.
“It was difficult to come out, to make decisions regarding transition, etc. And along with these, you have to constantly battle society’s perceptions and ill-treatment of people like me,” he said.
Now, even doctors will be scared, Arjun points out, to provide gender affirming treatment to transgender persons. He is talking about the amended Section 18, which mentions punishments.
“A minimum of 10 years of imprisonment for kidnapping and coercing someone to undergo a hormonal or surgical procedure. Anyone can point fingers at anyone, including community members, saying that the gender affirming care was done through coercion. But if someone sexually abuses a transgender person, the punishment is a maximum of two years,” he highlights.
This disparity in punishment aides one thing, Arjun adds, discrimination against transgender persons inside educational institutions, workplaces and public places.
No right or identity
Protests have been brewing across the country. In Kerala, too, transgender persons and allied bodies have taken out marches at various locations. On Sunday, in Thiruvananthapuram, the state capital, hundreds took to the streets to highlight the errors.
Sheetal Shyam, a transgender activist, was part of the protest carried out in Thiruvanathapuram.
“We met with legislators from our state. We have been protesting and planning the next course of action. The Union government didn’t consult with anyone, not even the National Council for Transgender Persons, before drafting the Bill. Now, if the President signs the Bill, the rights of almost four lakh people will be taken away,” she says.
What the community needs, she points out, is reservations and scholarships for education and for jobs.
The amendments go against international standards too, set by the United Nations, she says. Instead, the Bill erodes years of our efforts to become more visible in the so-called ‘mainstream’ society, she says.
“Kerala has a transgender candidate contesting in this assembly election,” Sheethal poins out.
‘Scary situation’
Indeed, in Kerala’s Sultan Bathery constituency, N V Prakruthi is busy with campaigning. She is contesting the election on an AAP ticket. While the summer heat doesn’t affect her, the Bill, she says, is scary.
“I’m a tribal transgender woman. People have been welcoming towards me and hearing me out during the campaign. And these new amendments will erase my identity,” she says.
Instead of worrying about election results, she says, she now has to be concerned about even her basic rights.
The Bill failed to consider intersectionality, she points out.
“Transpeople come from different socio-economic backgrounds. We are tribal people, Dalit people, Muslims, Hindus, Christians, Buddhists, we are gender fluid, inter sex, non-binary, transwomen, transmen... We have multitudes. We all have the right to live a complete and fulfilling life,” Prakruthi asserts.