Mangaluru: Several transgenders staged a protest in front of the DC office on Friday under the aegis of the Nava Sahaja Samudaya opposing Transgender Bill 2018 moved in the Rajya Sabha by the Union Government.
The protestors alleged that the Bill if passed would curtail the rights of transgenders and demanded that the Government withdrew the Bill immediately as it was against the interests of the transgender community.
The Bill, ostensibly aiming to protect transgender persons’ rights, has been drafted hastily, with no real understanding of gender identity and expression.
It proposes setting up a District Screening Committee comprising five people, including a medical officer and a psychiatrist to certify a transgender person. This process is in direct violation of the Supreme Court’s directions in National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India (or NALSA), 2014 that affirmed the right to self-determination of gender as male, female or transgender without the mandate of any medical certificate or sex-reassignment surgery (SRS).
