India to revise laws on transgender people

The Indian government is set to revise its laws regarding transgender people in a special session of parliament this month. The Transgender Persons Bill was first introduced in 2016. It required transgender people undergo “expert evaluation” before changing their gender identity and had “an inaccurate and stigmatizing definition of transgender,” according to Human Rights Watch.

In July of last year, a parliamentary committee released a report criticising this first bill. “While there is no shame in being gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or intersex or even straight, there is most certainly a shame and dishonour in being a homophobe, a transphobe, and a bigot,” said Ramesh Bais, a member of parliament from India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

The new bill is reported to do away with the evaluation process and allow transgender people to register their gender based on self-identification.

“This removes a significant barrier toward realizing basic human rights,” writes Human Rights Watch. “The absence of legal recognition erodes protection from violence and discrimination and can facilitate frequent abuse from law enforcement officers and other authorities.”

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