|
India’s Election Commission has given transgenders an independent identity by letting them state their gender as ‘other’ on ballot forms. Thus far, transgenders have been forced to describe their gender as being either male or female. Their recognition as an independent group is the first step towards official recognition of a community that has so far remained on the margins of society
India’s Election Commission (EC) has decided to allow eunuchs and transsexuals to state their gender as ‘O’, or ‘other’, in the voter lists if they do not want to be described as either male or female. The recognition comes 15 years after the third sex was granted the right to vote -- in 1994. According to an official EC statement, the decision to recognise the “other sex” was taken after “receiving representations from various individuals and interest groups, including some students from the law faculty of the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, Bhubaneswar”. “The Commission has duly considered the request and has decided to allow eunuchs and transsexuals to indicate their sex as ‘other’,” the EC said in a press release. “Necessary instructions have been issued to all electoral registration officers through the chief electoral officers of all states and union territories (areas directly administered by the central government in Delhi) to give effect to the above decision of the Commission.” Besides the electoral rolls, the option to indicate the third sex as ‘O’ will also be available in other documents of the Commission, including IT-based forms and website, the statement added. “Enumerators and booth-level officers shall be instructed to indicate the sex of eunuchs/transsexuals as ‘O’ if they so desire while undertaking any house-to-house enumeration or verification of any application,” said an official. The formal recognition meets a longstanding demand by the eunuch and transgender community, known as hijras in India, that is believed to number up to 6 million and comprise the hermaphrodite, transvestite and transsexual communities. Most eunuchs earn a living by collecting cash gifts from people during marriages and births. But in recent times, with the decline in their traditional roles, many have been forced into commercial sex work. Sexual minorities rights activists have welcomed the decision. Prominent activist Ashok Row Ravi said: “Though passports already have this option, the Election Commission and political class seem to have finally accepted that there is a plurality of genders in our society. This increases plurality in society, which is ultimately good for building a tolerant society.” “The inclusion of eunuchs and transgenders as ‘others’ gives us a separate identity which is what we have always wanted,” said Laxmi Narayan Tripathi, a prominent eunuch activist and founder of the campaign group Astitva. In India, the Tamil Nadu government took the lead in recognising the rights of transgenders in March 2008, when the state civil supplies department added the option ‘T’ (third sex) in ration cards. Transgendered people were able to write ‘E’ for ‘eunuch’ on passports and on certain government forms, but had failed in their campaign for acceptance at the ballot box though some have even contested elections and entered the public arena. Shabnum Mausi, a eunuch from Madhya Pradesh, contested and won assembly elections in 1998, from Shahdol. She had to list herself as ‘F’ (female) in the electoral rolls, with the only other option in the gender column being ‘M’ (male). Another member of the third gender became a successful mayor in Madhya Pradesh, but was identified as ‘male’ on the voters’ list while winning the election on a seat reserved for women. Needless to say, the mayor’s political career came to an abrupt end. Source: DNA, November 14, 2009
The Telegraph, November 14, 2009
AFP, November 13, 2009
BBC, November 13, 2009
|
