Hyderabad: A year on, since the Supreme Court gave its judgment recognising diverse gender identities, hardly anything has changed for the transgender in the state. A great majority of the educated transgender population remain unemployed due to the transphobia.
A double post graduate, Lakshmi (name changed), despite her efforts, hasn’t been able to find a job in any corporate office in Hyderabad, many of which have publicly declared themselves to be LGBT friendly.
Those who did manage to get jobs narrate stories of deliberate mis-gendering, sexual harassment, discrimination and non-payment of wages. Disparaging comments undermining their integrity is also common, many said.
When within a week of her joining a corporate office, Indira (name changed), a transwoman, revealed her identity at her workplace, she was in for a rude shock. She did submit her gender and name change papers and to seek access to either a women’s restroom or at least a gender neutral restroom.
Pushing around the issue for six months, recently, Indira’s company wrote to her asking her to submit the Sexual Reassignment Surgery certificate (SRS), violating the mandate of judgment of the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court in its National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) vs. Union of India judgment had clearly stated that “insisting on SRS as a condition for changing one’s gender is illegal.” There has hardly been any awareness among the corporate or government officials even about the NALSA judgment, which itself is in violation of the directives.
Among other things, the Apex court directed the governments to “provide separate public toilets and other facilities” and “to create public awareness so that transgender aren’t treated as untouchable.” While there are no public toilets and no plans from the government about the same, the other guidelines to have also not been implemented.
