The consultation brought together leading transgender rights activists, academics, and lawyers to gather their feedback and inputs on the first draft of the book “Transforming Courts: Courts Decisions on Transgender Rights in India”.
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Tag: transgender rights
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Writers’ Workshop on Transgender Rights and the Law in India: A Report on TransForm 2022
On 10th December, the Centre for Law and Policy Research held a Writers’ Workshop as…
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Transgender Lives, Identity and Community in India: A Report on TransForm 2022
The Centre for Law and Policy Research, in collaboration with Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung für die Freiheit, held…
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A Queer-Trans Critique on Marriage Equality in India
On 14th December, the Supreme Court asked the Union to respond to a plea by an Indian and…
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Reproductive Justice and Transgender Rights | Roundtable 4 | Transform 2021
Dr. Aqsa Shaikh, a transgender woman and doctor, spoke on the “Sexual and Reproductive Health of Queer Persons”. She began by stating that both medical professionals and the law reduce transgender persons to their body parts and stigmatise them. Medical professionals completely ignore reproduction in discussions around transgender persons’ bodies, believing them to be asexual or hypersexual perverts incapable of having children.
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Policing Transgender Relationships: The Role of Police and Courts in affirming their Right to Love
When a transgender person leaves their parent’s house to be with a partner of their choice, they are immediately met with resistance. Families inflict violence, issue threats, and force their children into heterosexual unions. In this context, it is the duty of the State to intervene and ensure that non-heterosexual couples are protected from their families.
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Turf not TERF: Feminism, Solidarity and Trans Persons
In a workshop in May, Kamla Bhasin, poet, and social activist offered her take on feminist activism, which she defined in rather narrow, perhaps stifling ways. Feminism, according to her, was not about race, or caste, or trans issues, or the ecology, “and so on”; it is only and exclusively about the struggle against patriarchy, misogyny, and the control of men and/over women.
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Legal gender recognition in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka
The State legally documents the gender of an individual from birth. For trans persons, the ability to have their gender recognized in official documents is an integral part of their right to life and dignity. Recent developments in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka relating to the legal recognition of the trans community’s right to gender recognition have been hailed as progressive; but do they go far enough? On January 26 2014, the Bangladeshi cabinet formulated a policy creating a distinct third-gender category – ‘hijra’- for trans persons. While this indicates that the State views ‘hijra’ as an umbrella term for all trans people, the term is considered to exclude other communities
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Is it possible to be Trans, Legal, and Free?
The NALSA Judgment (2014) and the Navtej Johar Judgment (2018) both produced a subject of gender and sexuality in a present-in-history. Both judgments presumably did not announce the recognition of new identities but traced histories of identities built on sexual and gendered differences from ancient India onwards.
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Conversations on Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019
Transgender rights are at the forefront of gender inclusivity in India since the landmark decision of the Supreme Court in NALSA v. Union of India. These dialogues gained significant momentum when the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 was enacted. Taking into consideration the vehement opposition to the legislation, CLPR held a community meeting “Conversations on Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019” to discuss the legal issues and challenges to the law. The meeting saw participation from the transgender community, lawyers, and human rights activists alike. Strong voices of Anindya Hajra, Vyjayanti Vasanta Mogli, Grace Banu and Akkai Padmashali guided the conversation through the various issues that are constitutionally and procedurally problematic.
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The Sexual is Political: Consent and the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019
The Transgender (Protection of Rights) Act 2019 passed recently by the Parliament, precisely undoes the capacity of the trans subject to be a citizen by revoking their ability to consent. This post highlights some of the key issues in the Act and why the trans community does not support it.
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The Draft National Education Policy, 2019 : Rights and Inclusion
The Draft National Education Policy, 2019 (DNEP) released by the government on May 31, 2019 has been described as a much needed attempt to overhaul the prevailing education system in India. Despite the initial uproar about the alleged imposition of Hindi in the curriculum, the policy appears to have found a good balance between retaining the old and ushering in new changes. In this post, we only respond to two crucial issues.
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Five Years Since NALSA: How Have the High Courts Fared?
Five years after the NALSA judgement, how have courts and government bodies fared in complying with the right to self-identify? This piece presents an analysis of cases in the High Courts which have dealt with self-identification of gender in employment, inclusion in the police force, and identification changes in educational certificates.
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Breaking New Ground: Transgender Persons’ Fundamental Right to Marry
The fundamental right of transgender persons to marry individuals of their choice was recently affirmed by the Madras High Court in Arunkumar and Another. v The Inspector General of Registration and Ors. The High Court upheld a Hindu marriage between Arunkumar and Sreeja (a transwoman) which the Registrar of Marriages, Tuticorin had previously refused to register.… The Court looked beyond the facts of the case to address issues of self-determination, personal autonomy and freedom of self-expression, culminating in the recognition of transgender persons’ right to marry.
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Sexual and Reproductive Rights in India: Social Movements and Legal Battles – DAY 1
On April 14th and 15th, we hosted the ‘Sexual and Reproductive Rights: Social Movements and Legal Battles’ conference, in collaboration with the University of Bergen, Norway and the University of Sussex at the Bangalore International Centre (see the full agenda here). The conference aimed to bring together prominent activists, academics and lawyers to discuss important issues and approaches that have developed in sexual and reproductive rights (SRR) advocacy in India. One of the key objectives of the conference was to shed light on issues and marginalised communities that are at the margins of SRR discourse and action.This blog post presents the key points raised on day 1 of the conference.
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South Asian Translaw Database | Beta version is now live!
The South Asian Translaw Database is a database to collate and present case laws, legislation, policies, and reports pertaining to transgender rights in the South Asian region. The beta version of our database is ready and we are very keen to receive comments and feedback!
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CLPR Equality Fellowship | Selected Fellows
CLPR has selected the following five Equality Fellows: Krithika Balu, Itla Ragiri Jayalakshmi, Anima Muyarath, C Prabhu.
Equality Fellows will will dedicate the next 2 years to the better implementation of equality and non-discrimination law in the States of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
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One Step Forward and Two Steps Back on Transgender Rights
The Rights of Transgender Persons Bill, 2014 [“2014 Bill”] was passed as the first private member Bill in four decades in April 2015. Subsequently, the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2018 [“2018 Bill”] was passed on 17 December 2018 despite fervent objections from the transgender community regarding its problematic provisions. The 2018 Bill, which is currently before the Rajya Sabha, is a volte face on the rights that were guaranteed in the 2014 Bill.
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CLPR Equality Fellowship | Selection Weekend
On 12th and 13th January 2019 we will conduct interviews to select up to 6 Equality Fellows who will dedicate the next 2 years to the better implementation of equality and non-discrimination law in India. 13 talented candidates will appear before a 4 member panel of prominent activists and human rights advocates: Mihir Desai, Martin Macwan, Anindya Hajra and Jayna Kothari.
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CLPR | First National Constitution Society Convention 2018 | Summary of Proceedings
On 23rd November 2018, the Centre for Law and Policy Research (CLPR) organised the National Constitution Society (NCS) Convention 2018. The one-day Convention took place at the Indian Institute of Human Settlements, Bangalore.
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Consultation on Preliminary findings on Intersectionality Report
Centre for Law and Policy Research organised a consultation to discuss policy brief on reservation for transgender persons in employment and education, as directed by NALSA. It also discussed preliminary findings of a research on caste discrimination CLPR worked on.
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The Supreme Court Trans-formed
Jayna Kothari, Executive Director at CLPR and Advocate, Supreme Court of India, writes in The…
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Movie Review: “Njan Marykutty”
The media rarely portrays a transgender woman accurately. In fact, they are consistently shown in a negative light. However, “Njan Marykutty” released in June 2018 is a Malayalam movie which delivered a pleasant surprise during Pride month.
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Pakistan’s Historic Transgender Rights Act: A step towards Trans Equality
The Parliament of Pakistan passed The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act on May 8th 2018 marking a historic victory for the trans community in Pakistan. The Act, which protects the rights of gender non-conforming persons and outlaws discrimination both by the State as well as private entities and persons, grants an individual the right to self identity their gender.
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Discrimination of caste, gender, sexuality and disability: a study in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh
The effects of caste-based discrimination in India have been documented extensively. However, studies on the role caste plays for women, sexual minorities, and persons with disabilities have not found any voice.
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My Transformed Opinion – Karthik Viswanath
Marking the fourth anniversary of the NALSA judgment recognizing the right to self-identify one’s gender,…
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My Transformed Opinion – Sampada S. Venkatesh
As a debater, I’ve been exposed to stories of transgender people, and have spoken on…
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Announcement: Selected Student Journalists for Transform– 2nd International Conference on Transgender Rights and the Law
On 14th and 15th April 2018, Centre for Law and Policy Research (CLPR) is organizing Transform – 2nd International Conference on Transgender Rights and the Law. On 4th April 2018, CLPR had called for Student Journalists for the Conference.
In a short span of 2 days the CLPR team received over 30 applications from students across the nation. We carefully assessed the applications and are happy to announce the following students who we have selected to as Student Journalists for the upcoming Conference.
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Intersex Persons’ Rights Seminar [23rd Oct 2017]
The term intersex refers to a variety of anatomical conditions where a person is born…
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Quarterly Report [July – Sept 2017] on CLPR’s Trans Law Cell
The transgender community remains one of the most marginalized communities, discriminated against on a daily…
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NALSA Judgement Orientation by Swatantra and CLPR on 1st Aug 2017
hile the NALSA judgment recognises the ancillary rights to vote, marriage, adoption, hold property etc., transphobia and the limited perceptions of society prevents equal access to education and employment. Prejudiced societal norms that manifest in biased behaviours have forced the transgender community to take up begging and enter the sex trade to make a livelihood. While the judgment is progressive and promising, there is much work pending at the ground level.
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The Transgender Welfare Development Board, West Bengal – A Wasted Potential
Three years down the line however, the Board seems to be languishing in bureaucratic lethargy. This is not because of the lack of initiative on the part of its members. The Board comprises of well-known and respected members of the trans community. Rather, the disenchantment with the Board stems from the lack of transparency in its creation, non-inclusiveness, internal divisions within the community and lack of a steady funding supply
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Beyond Male/Female – Reflections on the Transgender Bill
On December 14-15, 2016, the Centre for Law and Policy Research (CLPR) organised ‘Transform: A…
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TransForm: Essay Competition on Transgender Rights and Law
CLPR invites students to submit an essay on the topic “Taking Transgender Rights Seriously: Making Authentic Lives Possible”.
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Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill 2016 – Comment
Introduction The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill 2016 was drafted by the Ministry of…
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Panel Discussion on Diversity, Identity and the Law
This post is authored by Aishwarya Suresh Nair, IIIrd Year Student of the National Law Institute University, Bhopal. She is currently interning with CLPR.
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Identifying Gender: Thoughts on Implementation of the NALSA judgment
The National Legal Services Authority v Union of India has the potential to play a…
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Constitutional Principles in US v Windsor in the Indian Context
The US Supreme Court’s decision last month in US v Windsor has been celebrated around the world as a progressive step in gay rights and legalizing same-sex marriages. Even in India, it is anticipated that this judgment will be able to leave an impact on the pending Naz appeal decision in the Supreme Court. Although Naz and Windsor deal with different issues (decriminalization of homosexual acts in Naz and, recognition of same-sex marriages in Windsor), the fundamental concern is to stop discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
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Different Sexual Orientation (Justice Verma Committee Report)
The Justice Verma Committee has attempted to explain how different sexual orientations have been historically…