The TN government informed the Madras High Court that it will provide ‘gender neutral’ restrooms in schools for students and faculty members who do not wish to adopt the binary identity of male and female.
The Madras High Court was informed by the Tamil Nadu (TN) government on Friday that a proposal welfare policy for the LGBTQIA+ community is now being developed and will be finished and announced within the next three months.
This is the first time a state has suggested a policy like this for the LGBTQIA+ community. No State has formally recognised and presented a policy for the entire LGBTQIA+ population, despite some States, like Tamil Nadu, having separate welfare and inclusive legislation and regulations for the transgender group.
The Madras High Court’s Justice N Anand Venkatesh approved the State government’s submission and praised the TN government for taking this “gallant action.”
The State government also provided the court with two status reports, stating that it had started a programme to educate teachers about gender identities, the LGBTQIA+ community, and difficulties that adolescent students might encounter when confronting or accepting their identities, among other topics.
The State government further stated that in order to educate and sensitise children, such issues have already been incorporated into the school curriculum.
For pupils and employees who do not want to adopt the binary identification of male and female, the TN government also informed the Madras High Court that it would provide “gender neutral” restrooms in schools.
According to the status report, the State Planning Commission presented the proposed policy for the LGBTQIA+ group to the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in October of this year.
The Commission then transmitted the proposed policy to the State Social Welfare Department on November 15 for further action.
On Friday, the department informed the High Court that it had planned talks with key players and intended to finalise the action plan and notify it within three months.
The State also said that by the end of this month, it will put into effect its Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Rules, which include providing welfare programmes, access to health care, social justice, etc., for the transgender population.
The Court accepted the submissions and posted the matter for further on January 23, 2023.
“The government of Tamil Nadu is taking a sincere effort in addressing the issues faced by the Transgender community and the LGBTQIA+ community, and the same is evident from the various steps taken. One such step taken by state government was to bring in the Rules which it is going to implement soon. Hence the court has no problem granting more time for framing the policy for the LGBTQIA+ community,” the high court said.
To ensure that the LGBTQI+ community and the transgender community are free of the stigma surrounding their identities and are regarded as equal citizens, the High Court has been giving the Union and the TN government a number of orders.
These orders were made after two Madurai-based ladies filed a petition earlier this year stating that their parents had harassed them while they were involved in a romantic relationship by using the police.
At the time, the Court had issued orders to safeguard the petitioners’ security and had widened the plea’s scope to account for regulatory changes.
For the Tamil Nadu government, additional attorney general S Silambanan made an appearance.
The petitioners were represented by attorney Manuraj S.
Written By: Lakshman Singh, B.B.A LL.B (Hons.), Shri Ramswaroop Memorial University, Lucknow
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