Chennai: Commenting on the Transgender Bill 2019 that is being discussed in the ongoing Parliament session in the Rajya Sabha, Apsara Reddy, National General Secretary of the Mahila Congress, said it is “anti-human rights as it aims to closet transgender communities further and offers no real mainstreaming measures”.
“The Bill goes against equality. Instead of freedom to determine their gender, India’s transgender people must now submit to a certification process by a screening committee involving a government official and doctor,” says Sushmita Dev, former MP and member of the all India Mahila Congress.
Elaborating on the proposals under consideration, Apsara says, “The procedure of ‘screening and certification’ in front of a district magistrate and a medical screening committee is demeaning. It shows a lack of consultation with the Indian transgender community.”
Charging the lawmakers behind the proposal with a narrow understanding of ‘gender’ and seeing transgender identity as a psychological issue, Ms Reddy points out that the Bill violates the agency and privacy of a transgender person and confers no due regard to the NALSA judgement to self-identify.
“The Transgender community stares at a bleak future of further exclusion and inequality if the ruling government doesn’t contour this bill and explore the fundamental rights angle,” she concludes.
