Left govt in Kerala to include 'Transgender' as gender option in application forms in all its depts

In a landmarkdecision, the Left Front government in Kerala on Mondaydecidedto include transgender as gender option in allapplication forms in its departments in an effort to furtherreach out to the marginalised section.

State Health Minister K K Shailaja said an order hasbeen issued to add the transgender option in all applicationforms related to the Kerala government.

''An order has been issued to addtransgender/transwoman/transman in all application forms ofthe state government along with the options of female/male.

This will help in the upliftment of the transgendercommunity,'' Shailaja said in a release.

Kerala is the first State in India which declared aTransgender Policy after the landmark judgment of the SupremeCourt in 2014 which firmly established the right to equalityand equal protection for transgender persons.

''In Kerala, which has a transgender policy andfinances their gender reassignment surgery, it was decidedthat the applications can be changed tofemale/male/transgender/transwoman/ transman.'' ''The decision was taken after understanding that theinclusion of this category in the application form would bebeneficial to transgender individuals as their identities areclearly stated in the Transgender Personnel Protection ofRights Act, 2019,'' the minister said.

Consistent with the 2014 apex court judgment, theState policy allows for the self-identification of a person asa Transgender.

The policy also recommends the establishment ofDistrict-level Transgender Boards that can register and issueidentification cards.PTI RRT BNWELCOME BNWELCOME