TRANSCENDING THE TRANS BARRIER: THE WBCHSE EXPLICITLY RECOGNIZES THE THIRD GENDER CATEGORY

“Remember this, whoever you are, however you are, you are equally valid, equally justified, and equally beautiful.” -Juno Dawson, ‘The Gender Games: The Problems With Men and Women, From Someone Who Has Been Both.’

- ARJITA MUKHERJEE & CHANDRIL CHATTOPADHYAY

Over the past decade, there have been remarkable developments pertaining to the recognition of the third category of gender in India. Even in the present day, the majority of the population is still confined to the male-female binary mindset. The transgender community has remained an invisible gender in the orthodox mindset of the Indian society with very few exceptions. The National Legal Services Authority of India (NALSA) v. Union of India (2014) is one such exception that has proved itself to be a champion of transgender rights. It is still the most relevant verdict with regard to the recognition of the transgender category in India, wherein, for the first time in India, it was explicitly recognized that there are individuals who fall outside the binary gender identities of male/female. Every individual’s right to self-identify their gender was upheld. The unique and most interesting aspect that the Judgment highlighted is that gender identity need not necessarily be connected to biological features; rather, it is a distinctive perception of one’s gender. The Apex Court directed the State Governments to legally recognize the third-gender community in every document, to include them in the category of socially and educationally backward class of citizens, and to frame social welfare schemes in favour of them. The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019, is a statutory recognition of the same.