Are you a real transgender?

It is the question the state is asking us once again Honestly I am not even surprised anymore by both houses of parliament passing the Transgender Persons Amendment Bill 2026 I am just tired We are so bonecrushingly tired of this endless pattern of validation We are exhausted from constantly having to prove our humanity to a system that refuses to see usPlease save us from our saviours They want to save us from what exactly From ourselves From our own truth From the safe havens and chosen families we built when the world turned its back on usI genuinely do not understand who this will benefit Why did they even bring it Was it some god who came into their dreams and told them to make this bill to protect us But protect us from what Who is this imaginary attacker Who is imagining this Also what are they smoking in the parliament Hopefully itrsquos some really potent stuff because you need to be on a completely different trip to draft something this disconnected from realityDont get lost in the dense legal language or the slick politicianspeak surrounding this bill The core issue is terrifyingly simple do you get to decide who you are or does a district magistrate get to decideWhen an identity such as ours becomes approvalbased everything else in our lives becomes conditional If the state holds the power to validate your very existence that conditionality will show up everywhere It will show up in education when a principal demands to see your certificate It will show up in employment when HR departments hide behind state mandates It will show up in your neighbourhood when a house owner refuses to rent to you because your paperwork doesnt match their narrow worldview It criminalises our very identity turning our daily survival into an illegal actThe harsh reality of this country is that the economic and Englishspeaking belt will somehow survive this Privilege capital and a stronghold on the English language act as a massive shock absorber But what happens to a trans man in rural India What happens to an intersex child whose irreversible medical decisions are being made by frightened parents and state machinery before they can even speakThis bill is a masterclass in grounds for exclusion particularly for trans men While trans women have historically had sociocultural identities in Indiamdashflawed and marginalised as those societal perceptions may be they at least offer a sliver of visibilitymdashtrans men are completely invisible in this legislation With the looming retrospective clauses it is as if trans men simply do not exist in the eyes of the lawWhere do they go now How will they pursue their transitionsWill doctors fearful of state blowback even agree to perform top surgeries or administer hormone therapy on trans men without statesanctioned papers And if chosen families step in to help these men escape violently patriarchal homes will these supporters be criminalised too under the draconian Section 18Right now the trans community is standing in front of a legislative firing squadAnd we need to free the medical boards We must free the doctors who are being tasked by the state with doing deeply unscientific humiliating work You cannot measure a soul with a stethoscope You cannot validate a persons gender by forcing them to strip down for a bureaucratic tribunal It is a gross violation of bodily autonomy and medical ethicsThis isnt just about abstract legal theories This is about how dignity is understood and upheld in a democracy Right now we are staring down a severe mental health crisis The cost of this statesponsored besharmi is human life Suicide cases within the community are increasing Young queer and trans people are killing themselves because they look at their government and see absolutely no way out Make no mistake the lawmakers who pushed this bill through both houses have blood on their hands We desperately need leaders who have a spine of their own not just people who are happy being puppets nodding along to whatever discriminatory script they are handedThe record of history is so important here We have fought this fight before We lived through the joy of the Delhi High Court verdict in 2009 the crushing defeat by the Supreme Court in 2013 and our glorious defiant victory in 2018 If history teaches us anything it is that rights have to be fought for they can never ever be assumed Freedom is not a constantWhich brings me to my most important point We need to be together Gays lesbians bisexuals transgender folksmdashwe all have to stand united You dont need to like my lipstick colour You dont need to agree with my political leanings or simply my nonvegetarianism We can have our differences But right now the state doesnt care about our internal debates it only cares about erasing us allOn a lighter note amidst all this dystopia I read a tweet today that perfectly captured the sheer absurdity of the government trying to police our identities Jis desh ka pradhaan mantri nonbiological hai us desh ka yuva nonbinary kyun nahin ho saktaSo what can you do When the state tries to erase you your greatest weapon is your voice and your franchise Vote Vote vote and vote Vote out the apathy Vote out the bigotry Vote the ones who did this out of powerAnd please dont ask If not the ones in power who Because the answer is anybody Anybody who spoke fearlessly for us who took the time to understand us can be in power Anyone is better than them We cannot afford to sit on the sidelines while our dignity is debated in parliament by people who do not know usWe are bruised and we are tired but we are still standing And we will not let them write us out of our own countryThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever