Could you introduce yourself, and the work of your organisation? Why were you established?
I am Vyjayanti. I am a transwoman and a Right to Information (RTI) activist precipitating Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the High Courts and the Supreme Court of India to advance LGBTI+ rights. I have worked with the Centre for Law & Policy Research as both a volunteer and an employee at different points of time.
What important successes have you had as an organisation or movement?
As CLPR’s main form of intervention is strategic litigation, I will be focusing on that. I have listed below a few cases that bore important results for the community in recent times.
1. Sangama v. State of Karnataka
This was a public interest litigation in which CLPR intervened to represent Jeeva, an organisation working on the rights of transgender persons. As a result of the case, the Karnataka government amended the Karnataka Civil Service Recruitment Rules and provided for horizontal reservation of 1% for transgender persons in general merit, scheduled caste, scheduled tribes and OBC categories. This is the first state in the country to have provided reservations in public employment for transgender persons.
2. Vyjayanti Vasanta Mogli & Ors State of Telangana
This case led to the historic suspension of the draconian, regressive, and pre-constitutional Telangana Eunuchs Act, 1329 that gave sweeping and unrestrained powers to the police to arbitrarily arrest, detain and search transgender persons without a warrant. The law also assumed transgender persons as child sexual offenders if they were merely found with children.
“CLPR has been instrumental in creating the only initiative in India that provides consistent legal aid to transgender and sexual minorities communities.”
3. K. M. V. Monalisa & Ors vs. State of Telangana
This case resulted in positive changes like the inclusion of transgender persons in vocational training for self-employment by the Telangana state government and the issuance of many inter and intra departmental circulars for the inclusion of transgender persons.
4. Vyjayanti Vasanta Mogli vs. State of Telangana
During the nation-wide lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic, many transgender persons who did not have proper government ID found it difficult to avail the state welfare benefits like basic ration and healthcare. In a petition filed by me, the Telangana High Court passed orders directing the government to ensure that the members of the transgender community had ready availability of food grains, consumable items, and medicines as per their need and requirements. It also asked the CSOs coordinating with the government to ensure that these reached the transgender community free of cost and without insistence on the production of ration card/white card etc. Additionally, the Court held that separate wards are to be established in government hospitals for transgender COVID patients. By an order in 2021, the government was directed to expedite vaccinations for transgender persons.
5. Similar reliefs were obtained through matters like Grace Banu v. Chief Secretary, Tamil Nadu & Others in Tamil Nadu, Mohd. Arif Jameel v. State of Karnataka in Karnataka and Kabeer v. State of Kerala in Kerala.
CLPR has also been instrumental in creating the only initiative in India that provides consistent legal aid to transgender and sexual minorities communities. The Trans Law Cell is a free legal aid programme for members of the transgender and sexual minorities communities that allows them to visit CLPR once a week and consult a lawyer. The Cell provides aid in the form of legal advice and litigation on a range of issues including change of gender and name in various government and education documents, legal action against domestic violence etc. Since its inception, the Cell has provided legal assistance to more than 40 persons.
“One of the major challenges that we face as a community is the institutional neglect by the local, state and central governments.”
What are some of the major challenges that the trans community faces now within your context?
One of the major challenges that we face as a community is the institutional neglect by the local, state, and central governments. This is compounded by the exclusion and stigma at home, within families, in educational institutions, at places of work and healthcare, at banks and financial institutions, and public accommodation and public utilities. Despite the enactment of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019, the condition of many transgender persons remains vulnerable. The Rules for the Act were drafted and passed during the lockdown without giving the community members an opportunity to assemble, discuss and respond to the draft Rules. Hence, the Act and Rules do not reflect the needs and expectations of the community.
What does the future look like for trans rights in your region or globally?
We have a long and arduous journey of self-determination ahead. The Transgender Persons Act and Rules do not fully recognise self-identification and allow only post-op transgender persons to transition within the gender binary. Un-op and non-op transgender persons are not allowed to transition from male-to-female or from female-to-male within the gender binary without ‘Sex Reassignment Surgery’ (as mentioned in the Act). The education system and the medical curriculum are outdated and yet to be transgender and queer affirmative. The healthcare and related agencies are yet to take cognizance of the harmful effects of and ban Aversion/Conversion/Reparative Therapies across allopathy, homeopathy, Ayurveda, Unaani and Siddha schools of medicine and various non-medical forms of curative. Employment and livelihoods are areas of predominant exclusion of transgender persons. In short, there is a lot of work ahead and many, many battles to be fought.
On Trans Awareness Week, what is a central message you want the world and allies to know?
I would like to say that awareness must be raised for the issues focused on transgender persons. Organisations like CLPR and others that work on transgender rights must be equipped with resources and funds to support their work. Lastly, and most importantly, transgender and queer human rights activists must be supported through fellowships to enable their access to primary and higher education, research work, and interventions in state and healthcare policies.
How can allies best support the trans community?
Allies of the transgender community should use their social and economic capital to support queer and transgender persons-focused civil society organisations. There must be consistent efforts to train and employ working class queer and transgender persons. There must also be support for the likes of CLPR so that the rights of transgender persons are advanced through litigation and research.
