‘Now, I’m what the system chooses to recognise me as, not who I say I’m’
Parliament handed the Transgender Individuals (Safety of Rights) Modification Invoice 2026 on Wednesday. The Invoice has confronted close to unanimous opposition from the transgender neighborhood for taking away the suitable to self-identify, thereby reverting to an understanding prevailing pre-NALSA judgment. The landmark Supreme Courtroom order had recognised the ‘third gender’ and affirmed the trans neighborhood’s basic rights. The Indian Categorical spoke to Zainab Patel, 45, a number one trans girl activist and one of many petitioners within the ‘NALSA vs Union of India’ case. Working as a variety and inclusion guide, the activist with expertise in public well being spoke on the neighborhood’s opposition to the Invoice. Edited excerpts:
What are the neighborhood’ core objections to this modification?
The primary main concern now we have in opposition to the federal government and this Invoice is that not one of the trans individuals in India have been consulted earlier than the amendments. So, if the federal government is bringing in amendments, on what foundation have been these amendments introduced in?
On the very core of the framework earlier, which was according to what the 2019 Act mentioned, was ‘I’m who I say I’m’. The federal government in 2019 solely had an affirming position in it. In 2026, if I’ve to place it roughly, it’s ‘I’m what the system recognises me as or who the system chooses to recognise me as’. That is the one greatest shift that drives many of the objections.
How does it fluctuate from the 2019 Act?
The 2019 Act, which flows from the NALSA judgment, mentioned that gender id may very well be self-declared and the method was imagined to be de-medicalised. Now, id recognition might require medical verification, each by a medical authority or board and have verification if wanted by a District Justice of the Peace. So, right here it’s changing into a bureaucratic pathologisation course of. As an illustration, that is changing into conditional, and may very well be open to each sorts of biases.
There’s additionally going to be an affordable delay, as a result of I don’t consider on the district degree, on the state degree, throughout India, now we have that quantity of core competence the place the CMO or his deputy will preside over a committee, and it isn’t sensitised sufficient. The 2019 Act supplied for a 40-day interval for approval (of id certificates), however right here the whole software goes to be based mostly on the discretion of what the committee thinks and what the DM does. They’re introducing medical gatekeeping, which was explicitly rejected earlier.
As somebody who labored within the public well being system, we all know the system of an overburdened public well being system, you might be saddling them with one other bureaucratic course of. The second most vital level is that it narrows who will get recognised.
You touched upon the modifications in how the neighborhood can be outlined, are you able to elaborate?
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The second most vital and objectionable level is that it narrows who will get recognised. So, earlier within the 2019 Act, within the guidelines, it says transgender individuals, together with trans males, trans girls, non-binary id.
After I was a part of the Nationwide Council, there was trans-men illustration. Now, it has completely dropped trans-masculine (from the definition) and so they have conflated the thought of intersex with trans-people.
And now, they’re saying it’s only Hijra, Kinnar, Jogta or Aravani folks (socio-cultural identities). Now, as a result of the communities weren’t consulted, the federal government has not realised that the time period Aravani is outdated. It was a time period utilized in Tamil Nadu a number of years in the past. They’ve phrases like Thirunangai and Thirunambi now. As a result of this has been completed in a hasty method, it (definition) doesn’t mirror the terminologies used throughout different states too … Shiva Shaktis in Andhra and Telangana, Sakhis in Uttar Pradesh. These names will not be there, so does it imply that all of them get obliterated within the course of? Trans males and trans girls have change into invisible once more.
What intent do you see behind these amendments?
The federal government has talked about bringing robust provisions to make sure focused supply of schemes so it reaches the suitable particular person. However allow us to take a look at the bottom actuality. After we went to the court docket within the NALSA matter, we have been understood to be socially, economically, politically and educationally backward. Out of the 4.87 lakh transgender individuals, based mostly on the 2011 census, solely 30,000 odd have gotten nationwide transgender ID playing cards. So, the place is the focused supply of advantages?
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I simply assume that the federal government needs to make sure that trans folks stay a really small minority, in order that, you realize, even when issues will not be reaching out to them successfully, they will nonetheless say that now we have filtered out the undeserving and solely stored the deserving.
What would be the neighborhood’s subsequent step?
We’re nonetheless hopeful the federal government will come to their senses however we’re able to go to court docket. We may also proceed protesting this, as a result of, like within the UGC matter, the Supreme Courtroom might take pressing discover of the difficulty.
How would the each day lives of transgender individuals get affected?
The largest factor I really feel is that it’s pushing folks in the direction of anxiousness, pushing folks in the direction of abuse, pushing folks away from the care that they get, and for a neighborhood who’s already struggling a lot on a day-to-day foundation, as an alternative of providing some quantity of soothing, it’s going to agitate their situations additional. Now individuals are truly going to ask you, are you an actual transgender or no? See, the implication of it isn’t solely restricted to the medical service supplier or the trans particular person, it is usually how the overall neighborhood will evaluate and understand them tomorrow.
