The National Legal Services Authority is working on a special law to safeguard the interests and welfare of transgenders on the lines of Special Marriage Act, Supreme Court judge Altamas Kabir said Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u201cTransgenders are in a most disadvantageous position, not of their own making. Some of them are rejected not just by society, but even by their parents,\u201d said Kabir at a day-long seminar here on \u2018Transgenders and the Law\u2019, organised by the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority and the Karnataka High Court Legal Services Committee.<\/p>\n
Regretting discrimination against transgenders\u2019, Kabir said a transgender who became a doctor was not allowed to practice in hospital and had to give up the job as patients refused to be treated by her.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have public toilets for men and women but not transgenders and they are not allowed to use either. Where should they go? Do you want them to eke-out their livelihood by begging, dancing or by sex work,\u201d Kabir asked, saying it was high time for providing a public toilet for the third sex.<\/p>\n
Similarly, for admission to schools\/colleges or employment, application forms have only two columns for male and female but not for transgenders.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not only male and female, but we have to provide one more category – \u2018Others\u2019 to include transgenders,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Describing transgenders as men wrapped up in women\u2019s body and vice-versa, the executive chairman of the National Legal Services Authority said it was both a physical and psychological problem.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf society is not accepting transgenders, we have to change its mindset, at least now,\u201d Kabir noted.<\/p>\n
Karnataka High Court Acting Chief Justice Vikramajit Sen said that the social stigma attached to transgenders should be eradicated.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey should also be recognised and respected. They should be provided a means for their livelihood and should be treated on par with others,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The transgenders\u2019 population is about 1.2 million in the country.<\/p>\n
The seminar threw light on social, medical, emotional and legal issues relating to the community. About 250 transgenders from 11 districts across the state attended the seminar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The National Legal Services Authority is working on a special law to safeguard the interests and welfare of transgenders on the lines of Special Marriage Act, Supreme Court judge Altamas Kabir said Sunday. \u201cTransgenders are in a most disadvantageous position, not of their own making. Some of them are rejected not just by society, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[5522,5517,5520,47726,5521,5518],"class_list":["post-13836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-top-law-news","tag-chief-justice-vikramajit-sen","tag-special-law","tag-special-marriage-act","tag-supreme-court","tag-supreme-court-judge-altamas-kabir","tag-welfare-of-transgenders"],"yoast_head":"\n