YOUR BODY, MY RULES

YOUR BODY, MY RULES

March 31, Transgender Visibility Day. A day of and for pride, honour, and passion.

Celebrations erupt across the globe. 

Congratulations! You matter. We are proud of you. 

But it is a dark day back at home. 

Show me what is in your pants! 

Old geezers with filthy fantasies sang in unison at the Sansad for two whole weeks. Their commendable performance was then awarded with applause and cheers. They got what they wanted. The cries went unheard, ignored, and crushed. None knew of the struggle and the experiences of the ones at the receiving end of this astonishingly backward and utterly unnecessary act. They erased people at their whims and fancies. It is scary how quickly we are transitioning to a despotic state.

What is it that I am talking about?

The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill. An act legal as of the 31st of March, 2026, taking away your right of self-determination. 

Are you trans? Well, prove it. 

Prove it to the long-in-the-tooth leaders who could not provide proof of their degrees. Show them. Stand in front of them, and bare yourself. Slowly, deliberately, with rage. Bare your body, for your soul has already been stripped nude. It is perfectly fine, guys! They passed the bill for us! Aw, look how they care for us. ‘The facilities must reach the right people; nobody should weaponize their identity to avail the resources reserved for those who really need it.’ Can you argue? They are absolutely right. Anybody could play pretend—pretend, and dress themselves up in a ‘transgender costume’. They would love to be stomped on and excluded from the education system and the employment sector. Slurs would be a delight. They will only be called over for blessings when the need for a son comes knocking at their doors. And of course, who wouldn't want an effortless source of income from mere change at the traffic lights?

No rights. 

No identity.

No education. 

No sanitation. 

The list goes on and on.

The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment woke up on the 13th of March, 2026, and chose to set the country back by a decade. Virendra Kumar, a minister from the Bharatiya Janata Party, introduced the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill (2026) in the Lok Sabha. That day, democracy crawled into its grave. Dissatisfied, defeated, and helpless, it died again, not before letting out a faint cry for help. The struggle was there, even before the bill, in fighting for social inclusion and understanding. It was never a request, but a clearly rational demand. That day marked a rather restless and difficult journey for respect and dignity. Rallies were organised, posters were made, and the tweets were shared. People did not, could not, blink, relax, or think of going home.

On the afternoon of the 16th of March, 2026, the Women’s Press Club contained and hosted a crowd it was never built for. In unity and struggle, in a small room inside a building that has seen the city change, queer and trans activists were pressed against students, students against lawyers, lawyers beside journalists who sat next to community organisers. Meanwhile, across the nation, protests and gatherings were held in major cities. People painted, sung and proclaimed freedom. In speaking, discussing, and listening, they found solidarity. 

Amidst public resistance and parliamentary walkouts, the bill was passed in the Lok Sabha on the 24th of March. The lawmakers stood, laughing quietly at the futile attempt of the opposition to rationalize with the government. Renuka Chowdary, a member of Rajya Sabha representing the Indian National Congress, stood in front of every single member and asked that ‘if even four MPs could explain the meaning of LGBTQIA+, she would sit down and ‘won’t resist’. How could they when the clauses were so apathetically discussed and tossed aside as if they didn’t obliterate hundreds of identities?

The next day, the plane hit the second tower. The bill was finally passed in the Rajya Sabha on the 25th of March, 2026. As one final act of love, our President, Draupati Murmu, signed the bill, making it an Act on the 31st. 

 

The law revokes your right to self-determination and self-identification, which was originally assured under The Transgender Persons Act, 2019. Without consulting the people it claims to protect, it was introduced and then passed. It ‘Protects’ you by humiliating you and trashing your identity. The National Council for Transgender Persons (NCTP) remained sidelined. A centre-appointed medical board will now sit excitedly for your strip show. A job you did not sign up for. Bid farewell to your Right to Privacy. 

‘But what about your education, shelter, and food’? You don’t require that. The world is your home, and insults are your food. Oh? What? Unconstitutional? It's okay. We are above and beyond that myth. The 2014 NALSA Judgement was just a fluke. Come again? Landmark judgement? Oh, the judges must have been out of their minds to call it such. Huh? We were the ones who first introduced the Transgender Persons Act in 2019? Guess we were also out of our minds. Anywho, mistakes happen. We are here to atone. We will atone against Kanmani Ray, a trans woman and lawyer practising in the Supreme Court and Madras High Court, who said, “If someone has been forced to ‘become’ a transgender person, then they don’t actually identify as transgender, right? How do you then justify putting them here?”

We shall expiate; ignore the doctors who are advocating against the bill on the grounds of its impracticality. What do they know? What do they have? Years of medical training? That is elitist of you. 

Gargi, a Kothi person and doctor, noted in an interview with the Leaflet that the proposed process is largely unworkable in practice. “Would these specialist doctors and surgeons go and save their patients on a day-to-day basis in emergencies, or will all these doctors convene together?”

United Nations? Well, it is a joke. So what if it violates expectations of separation of the legal and the medical field, thus violating international law for legal gender recognition?

The government, in its pathetic attempt to save its face, states that the earlier bill was proving to be difficult in its implementation because of the expansive definition of the term ‘transgender’. Yes! It is all your fault; your greedy self wants the right to self-determination. The earlier bill just required adequate effort and proper implementation. Who would actually do that when you could just go back and erase stories and people?

Noteworthy here is that the new law only includes the Hindi terminology for intersex people—hijra, kinner, aravani, and jogta. Casual neglect or a deliberate exclusion? Blatant ignorance or an act of terror? The state claims to protect only the aforementioned ‘hijra’ community and bases it on being part of traditional Hindu culture, while the larger intersex community from other socio-cultural backgrounds remains ostracised. Grace Banu, a trans rights and anti-caste activist, pointed out to Queerbeat that the new law aligns itself with dominant-caste Hindu mythologies. I guess then North-easterns and South Indians can’t be gender queer; such a species cannot exist. It is against our customs and traditions. Do you want to include the terminologies of other regions and languages? Anti-national! Go to Pakistan! 

Some say the bill was passed to divert our attention from the severity of other issues in our country, like our weak passport, even weaker currency, and women's and children’s safety. According to this speculation, this scene has been played out at the right time. It could serve as a cover-up for a plethora of the ruling party’s immaculate decisions: the UGC bill, the LPG shortage, late-stage capitalism, and the steady movement towards a fascist state assisted by Hindutva ideology. Others say it is a deliberate attempt to erase people and appease the Western standards of purity and convention for gender and sex. Either way, the ordinary gets thrashed for the ‘greater good’ of the country. 

This is the history of the most vulnerable. Targeted first. And comforted? Never. Even under the filthy dictatorship of Hitler, transgender people were the first to be prosecuted. You already know the rest. This eraser will not stop here, but neither will we. We will be found outside, on the streets, marching each time a measly attempt to destroy the hard-earned freedom is made.

                                                                                                             - Ruhab Rai
1st Year, B.A. (Psychology and Sociology)