Months after the Rajya Sabha, in a rare move, voted in favour of a private member’s bill guaranteeing rights to transgenders, the Lok Sabha today took up a similar private member’s bill, moved by Trinamool MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar.
The Transgender Persons (Welfare) Bill 2015 calls for a Transgender Persons Welfare Fund administered by a board with representation from state governments that will provide social security to transgender persons. It proposes that every transgender person will be entitled to freely express his/her gender identity and be considered a third gender, and that they will have access to education and vocational training; the rights to personal liberty, dignity, freedom of expression; rights against violence, right to health facilities and also the right to marry.
Talking about her Bill, Ghosh Dastidar said, “It is high time that we recognised the needs of these special kinds of people. Since Parliament is the place where we can legislate for providing for all their requirements and guaranteeing them their rights, I brought this bill. West Bengal is among the first states in the country that, as far as my knowledge goes, recognised their needs and set up a transgender board to ensure those rights.”