CHENNAI: Last year in July, Tamil Nadu released the State Policy for Trans Gender Persons. Almost a year later, drafting committee members, stakeholders and activists question the status of policy that focused on the welfare of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans persons, Queer, Intersex, Asexual and others (LGBTQIA+), which was simultaneously worked alongside trans policy.
To improve the socio-economic conditions of the trans community, CM Stalin in April 2022 assured to form a policy for trans people. Subsequently, the committee in May 2024 submitted a draft policy to the Madras High Court.
During these discussions, as per the recommendations of the community members, the Department of Social Welfare and Women Empowerment decided to release two separate policies – one for trans persons and another for LGBTQIA+ community. Though the work was carried out simultaneously, the questions remains: where is the policy?
One of the drafting members said that in the last discussion with the officials of the social welfare department, there was no clarity if and when the policy for LGBTQIA+ will be released. “Parallelly, in the legal sector too, there is no confirmation on the status of the policy,” the member added.
Meanwhile, it is said that a few trans community members have been against specific policies for LGBTQIA+ and have been pressuring the government officials to do away with it. Another stressed the need for a policy and refuted claims that they do not face discrimination.
“We respectfully disagree that LGBQ, who are not transgender, do not face issues,” said the member of the community.
Numerous cases of violence from natal families (such as the Sushma case), harassment in workplaces and educational institutions have been documented in India, including in Tamil Nadu. “We expect the State government to release the policy after elections. We also urge the government to take our recommendations and implement them through the policy,” he added.
However, when contacted, the department officials did not respond.
Some of the recommendations include open-schooling with the necessary facilitation and documentation requirements should be made available for LGBTQIA+ members and gender non-conforming children who had to drop out of educational institutions. Secondly, all schools (from primary to higher education) in TN must adopt an LGBTQIA+ policy to raise awareness among faculty, staff and students and also address issues of violence, abuse, and discrimination against students who have a diverse gender identity and sexual orientation.
Thirdly, any serious cases of repeated hatred and violence against sexual and gender minority students must be brought to the District Collector and Police Department. Finally, age relaxation up to five years for LGBTQIA+ and gender-nonconforming persons who drop out of school due to discrimination.