Five queer voices explain the impact of the Trans Amendment Bill 2026

Jaya Sahodharan, organiser, activist

Jaya Sahodharan
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Back in 2014, the National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India (2014) became a landmark judgement of the Supreme Court of India, which declared transgender people the ‘third gender’, and gave us the right to self-identification of our gender as male, female or third gender. This is after years of being humiliated, shamed, removed from our homes, and being left to fend for ourselves on the streets. The 2014 judgement gave us self-respect. So did late Chief Minister M K Karunanidhi, who bestowed upon us the term ‘Thirunangai’ — respectful woman — instead of the archaic ‘Aravani’. Tamil Nadu then progressed, eliminating the need for medical examination to be determined trans. We did not have to ever lift our skirts up to prove who we were. We created welfare boards, joined the Corporation as members of advisory committees, helped secure housing, and started studying, and even working in firms and systems that once rejected us. The change has been slow yet steady in the state. This new Bill fundamentally robs us of dignity and sets us back many years. It makes us existential. “Am I not trans enough under this Bill” it makes us ask. To change that, we will fight.

Fred, trans man and activist

Fred
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Special Arrangement

The new Bill to amend the The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 by the Social Welfare department of India, seems to only recognise kinner, hijra, aravani, jogta, enuchs, and intersex community members. Who then, are trans men? Why does our existence have to be erased? In a patriarchal society like India, the prenatal family tends to be the first space of violence. Here, we are killed, poisoned, and violated. AravaniConversion therapy is forced on us just because we try to exist as ourselves. The act in 2019 allowed us to exist as ourselves. It gave us recognition. We were invited to be part of the Transgender Welfare Board in Tamil Nadu. This Bill wants to take us back to the status from 20 years ago, where only visibly trans people are recognised. It is going to hinder our everyday. Our identity, invalidated. We will not stand for it.

V Neela Naik, Jamaat leader

V Neela Naik
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Special Arrangement

The jamaat system, which has existed for many hundred years, protects trans adults and children who run away from oppressive homes that seek to kill, erase and change us. The Centre though, is now calling us criminals, demonising the system. We do not force any trans kids into begging or sex work. The system does not allow us to do other jobs. It is in rare states like Tamil Nadu where trans education is high. The jamaat is only a safe space, a launchpad for young kids who have nowhere else to go. Choosing to criminalise us under the act without any provisions to provide reservation in terms of education, proper health insurance, better medical support through gender-sensitive doctors, and possibilities of housing, is snatching away all attempts at protection.

Marakkah, trans Tamil teacher

Marakkah
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

The Central government wants to tell me what gender I must present as, rewriting Dr. Ambedkar’s beautifully constructed Indian constitution in which Article 21 guarantees that “no person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law.” The amendment is an attempt to rewrite fates on religious lines. This marginalised community has members from the Hindu, Muslim, and Christian community. Some others are atheists. Whatever gets us through. By imposing Hindu identities like ‘Aravani’ that comes only in the Mahabharata, we lose our ability to choose a faith-neutral term, conforming to a Hindutva narrative. No law can tell me who I am. I have lost too many people in the fight to protect my identity.