Over 200 members of the transgender community gathered at Azad Maidan on Wednesday to protest against the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, 2026. The Bill strips away transgender persons’ right to self-identify their gender and mandates a district magistrate-appointed medical board to verify an individual’s gender before issuing a transgender ID card.

Members of the community and allies showed up with trans and rainbow flags around their bodies, on their faces, and hoisted high up in the sky. Some eyes were tearful, others were filled with hope. As familiar faces emerged from the crowd, people rushed into each other’s arms — some reuniting with old friends, others finding new ones — but all holding on a little longer, as if aware that solidarity is the need of the hour.