Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Wednesday, March 25, criticised the BJP-led Union government for passing the amendments to Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019, in the Lok Sabha without hearing the concerns expressed by the trans community. The CM urged the Union government to reflect on the concerns expressed by the very community for whom the law is designed, instead of imposing its will.
Taking to social media, CM Stalin wrote: “The proposed amendments to the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 cannot be pushed through without listening to the very people whose rights and lives it will affect.”
He added, “When a law framed in the name of protection is being opposed by the community itself, it calls for reflection, not imposition.”
Stalin said that the BJP government must “pause, engage, and build a genuine consensus with transgender persons before moving forward.”
A day earlier, the contentious Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, 2026, was passed by voice vote in the Lok Sabha. The Bill was strongly opposed by the trans community, saying that it would significantly alter the framework of the 2019 law by narrowing the legal definition of a transgender person and removing the right to self-perceived gender identity.
The Bill will now be tabled before the Rajya Sabha.
Introduced on March 13, the amendment rolls back a key provision of the existing legislation, restricting recognition only to individuals with certain biological or physiological characteristics, intersex variations, or socio-cultural identities such as kinner, hijra, aravani and jogta. The amendment has completely excluded trans men, trans women, and genderqueer identities—earlier recognised by the 2019 Act.
These changes directly contradict the 2014 Supreme Court ruling in the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) case, which upheld the right to self-identification and formally recognised a ‘third gender’ category.
The Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha amid sharp criticism from opposition parties, who accused the Union government of advancing an exclusionary and medically driven approach without consulting the transgender community.