Transgender Bill Could Give Gender Choice, But No Relief from 377

The Transgender Bill which could – if time permits – be introduced in Lok Sabha this month, has been under fire by trans activists and queer folk alike. Hence, the social justice ministry has been racing against time to finalise nine amendments to the Bill and to introduce the changed draft in the coming session of Parliament.

The standing committee of Parliament recommended a change in the definition of transgender persons. The recommendation is likely to be accepted, reported TOI.

As reported by TOI, the Centre plans to tweak the clause in the Transgender Bill and move the focus from a “biological test” to an individual’s exclusive freedom of choice.

The government bill pending in the Parliament defines a transgender person as:

Neither wholly female nor wholly male; a combination of female or male; neither female nor male [...] whose sense of gender does not match with the gender assigned to the person at the time of birth.

The standing committee’s recommended definition is:

A person whose gender does not match with the gender assigned at birth, and includes transmen and transwomen (whether or not they have undergone sex reassignment surgery or hormone therapy or laser therapy etc), gender-queers, and a number of sociocultural identities such as kinnars.

Centre Not in Favour of Decriminalising Homosexuality for Transgender People

The other changes are relatively minor and will not make any substantive difference to the legislation.

The Centre, however, is still not in favour of exempting transgender persons from the ambit of Section 377 of the IPC which criminalises homosexuality. Hence, it will be rejecting the standing committee’s recommendation to do so. TOI reported that the committee had pointed out that transgender people were vulnerable to the application of Section 377.

The Centre will also be rejecting the recommendation to include the transgender community in the Other Backward Classes category.

(With inputs from TOI)