In 2014, the Supreme Court of India gave a landmark judgment in the National Legal Services Authority – or NALSA – vs Union of India case. The court provided for self identification of transgender persons as ‘male’, ‘female’ or ‘transgender’ and said that the government must make provisions for education, health, employment etc of transgender persons – and, it stressed on affirmative action.
However, five years since the judgment, while some things have changed for the transgender community on the ground – a lot more has simply remained the same.
In 2015, DMK MP Tiruchi Siva managed to pass a Private Member’s Bill for the rights of transgender persons, in the Rajya Sabha. This bill followed the spirit of the NALSA judgment, the transgender community says. But the Centre decided to bring in their own Bill in the Lok Sabha – which was a much more watered down version, and had several problematic inclusions. The Bill was passed by Lok Sabha in 2018 – however, after the House was dissolved, the Bill has now lapsed.
We spoke to four transgender activists about the changes on the ground in the five years since the NALSA judgment, and the challenges that the community still faces.