Justice for transgenders: Apex court's recognition of third gender must pave way ... - Times of India

Supreme Court's decision to recognise transgender persons as belonging to a separate third gender category comprises a landmark judgment. In substantiating its ruling, the apex court stated that members of the transgender community suffer from discrimination and remain socially and economically backward. Sans official recognition transgender persons hitherto faced enormous difficulties in even acquiring basic documents such as passports and driving licences. The court sought to rectify this by stressing that continued discrimination against transgender persons was against the spirit of the Constitution and impressed upon the government to erase stigma and provide equal opportunity to the community.

The court's assertion that it's the right of every human being to choose his or her gender and that the identity of transgender persons should be determined by psychological rather than biological parameters is noteworthy. This is in line with an evolved outlook on gender as different from biologically assigned sex. Thanks to conservative mindsets, the distinction is rarely made in Indian society. Conditions such as eunuchoidism and gender identity disorder are hardly discussed and approached in a humane manner. In such a scenario, those affected are condemned to suffer silently or face ostracism and stigma.

While the apex court's judgment forms a welcome legal basis for transgender persons to secure their rights, the spirit of the order also needs to extend to Section 377 of the penal code that criminalises homosexuality. Only months earlier the Supreme Court had upheld the penal provision and left it to the government of the day to consider abolishing it. But a person's right to choose his or her gender cannot be complete without the right to express a particular sexual orientation. With the apex court upholding the former, the latter too must be recognised by abolishing Section 377 IPC from statute books.