What the new transgender law seeks to normalise |
The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Act, 2026 was passed despite much furore by the Opposition in both houses of Parliament and received Presidential assent in a span of less than a week. The legal definition of “transgender” has been massively narrowed to include only “intersex persons”, the derogatory term “eunuchs”, and four socio-cultural trans identities in India (Hijra, Kinnar, Jogta, Aravani). By excluding trans men, along with many other regional trans communities in India, this definition contravenes the SC’s 2014 NALSA judgment, despite the SC Trans Committee’s recommendation underscoring this violation.
In Parliamentary debates, these categories were continuously defended on a mythological basis. The Opposition’s arguments were filled with repeated invocations to Shikhandi and Lord Ram’s historical blessings for Kinnars to imply that said communities deserve rights, only because of their supposedly “historical” role in scriptures such as the Mahabharata. The new law essentially completely absorbs “trans-ness” into their Hindu fold.
In line with this paradoxical ritualistic logic, many MPs opposed the Bill citing faith-related reasons, not because of the basic Constitutional guarantees every citizen of this country is........