The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2018, as passed by Lok Sabha on December 17, 2018, claims to “provide for protection of rights of transgender persons and their welfare’. However, instead of addressing the daily oppressions and indignities faced by the transgender community, this Bill seeks to further institutionalise these very same violations.

The relationship of the transgender community with the healthcare system has been less than satisfactory. The healthcare system in India generally does not have a good history of diagnosing or treating persons from marginalised communities. While the private healthcare system is exploitative, unduly commercialised and contemptuous of any poor patients, the government healthcare system is underfunded, understaffed and overworked. Neither of these systems are equipped to even meet the basic psychological needs of a transgender person, leave alone make decisions about a person’s gender. Horror stories abound of healthcare staff asking unnecessary questions around sex, reproduction and genitalia, even when a transgender person goes for unrelated health issues. This plays dangerously close to being classified as sexual harassment, voyeurism, and sexually inappropriateness.

In the absence of role models and support systems, there could be confusion about the gender identity that the child or adult identifies with as opposed to one imposed by social norms. Read more via The News Minute