The landmark Supreme Court Judgement dated April 15, 2014 ­ recognising 'Transgender' as a third gender and guaranteeing them Constitutional Rights was a major stepping stone in the long standing battle of the Transgender community for their Rights. However, even after one year of the Supreme Court ruling, social exclusion and infringement on the rights of the Transgenders continues. Recent attacks on transgender persons highlight their vulnerability.

The official data estimates nearly half a million Transgender persons in the country, however most activists from the community contend that the actual number is six to seven times higher. Barriers faced by the Transgenders in accessing health care, education, safe shelter, public spaces, employment and legal aid are many and they are forced to live and die as social outcasts.

The Supreme Court had, in its judgement, directed the Centre and State governments to treat transgender community as socially and educationally backward classes of citizens and ensure that they are not discriminated against in healthcare, employment and education. The Supreme Court had also specified a time frame of six months to implement its directives. More than a year has passed but victimisation of the transgender community through systematised exclusion continues.

Appointment of the country’s first Transgender College Principal in West Bengal and election of the country’s first Transgender Mayor in Chhattisgarh are encouraging success stories of Transgender Empowerment, but such stories are few and exceptional. Inclusion of ‘Transgender’ option in admission forms by some educational institutions is a progressive step, however personal experiences of Transgender students suggest that acceptance in reality is limited to admission forms only. Similarly instances of denial of health care and treatment to Transgenders are very common. Due to this Transgenders, struggling with incoherence between their physical and mental gender identity and inability to bear huge cost of sex reassignment surgeries, tend to reach out to quacks for such procedures. This becomes detrimental and even fatal at times.

‘THE RIGHTS OF TRANSGENDER PERSONS BILL, 2014’, a Private Member's Bill moved by Mr. Tiruchi Siva, Honourable Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha, seeks to put an end to the injustices faced by the Transgender community and to ensure them a dignified life, free of discrimination and unnecessary prosecution. It is a comprehensive bill laying out the steps to be taken for rehabilitating and ensuring equal access to education, employment, health care, accommodation, social security, legal and financial aid to the Transgender community besides protecting them from violence and exploitation. Further, the Bill provides for the setting up of National and State Transgender Welfare Commissions as statutory bodies to ensure the protection and promotion of these rights.

The merit of the Bill was recognised by the Rajya Sabha M.P.s across party lines resulting in the Bill being unanimously passed by the Rajya Sabha on 24th April, 2015, becoming the first Private Member’s Bill in the past 45 years to be passed. The passage of the Bill was momentous in the history of Private Member’s Bills in the Parliament, but more than that, it has marked a crucial victory in the Transgender persons’ struggle for equal rights.

The fact that the bill was unequivocally supported and unanimously passed in the Rajya Sabha reflects that our representatives there are not divided, but stand united, on this key issue of Human Rights. It is with a strong hope of support from elected representatives of the Lower House of the Parliament, that this bill will now be tabled before Lok Sabha during the forthcoming monsoon session. The Bill if passed in the Lok Sabha will put an end to the injustices, discrimination and unnecessary prosecution faced by the Transgender community.

In Lok Sabha, the support of the Ruling Party would be crucial to the Bill’s passage, and with a strong faith that democracy shall prevail in its true sense we, the petitioners, intend to submit this petition to our Honourable Prime Minister who is also the leader of the Ruling Party in Lok Sabha.

If you too believe that everyone, including Transgenders, deserve equal rights as we all enjoy by virtue of being human beings and citizens of this country, then please sign this online petition and widely circulate it in your personal and professional network.

Ending the centuries-long discrimination of the Transgender community will require sincere efforts from each one of us. We thank you in advance for taking action.

Petitioners:-

1. AIDS Healthcare Foundation- India Cares

2. Alternative Law Forum

3. Astitva Trust

4. India HIV/AIDS Alliance

5. Sangama

6. Tamil Nadu Coalition Post 2015