The Tamil Nadu government has notified in the gazette a glossary of terms to be used to address and describe people from the LGBTQIA+ community, as directed by the Madras high court.
- The Department of Social Welfare and Women Empowerment notified the terms — paal pudhumaiyar for queer; maruviya paalinam for a transgender; idaippaal for intersex; paalina adaiyaalangaludan oththupogaathavar for a gender non-conforming person and so forth. The government also mandated that all forums, including the media, only use these terms from the glossary published in English and Tamil.
Measures for LGBTQIA+
- LGBTQIA+ is an inclusive term that includes people of all genders and sexualities, such as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, queer, intersex, asexual, pansexual, and allies.
- In 2018, a Bench of the Supreme Court had overturned a 2013 ruling and decriminalised homosexuality. But the landmark judgment was only a first step. Not only did it strike down a 158-year-old controversial legal provision of section 377, thus legitimizing same-sex relationships, it also signalled an end to prejudice, which it argued has bedevilled India.
- As per the Census 2011, 4,87,803 Persons have been classified as ‘others’ which includes Transgender Persons.
- Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment enacted “The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019” for protection of rights of transgender people and their welfare, and provisions of the same came into force on 10th Jan, 2020.
- Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has launched a scheme “SMILE – Support for Marginalized Individuals for Livelihood and Enterprise” on 12.02.2022, which includes sub scheme – ‘Comprehensive Rehabilitation for Welfare of Transgender Persons’. The focus of the sub-scheme is on rehabilitation, provision of medical facilities and intervention, counseling, education, skill development, economic linkages to the transgender persons.
- On 21st Aug, 2020, National Council for Transgender Persons was constituted to advise Government on policies, programmes, legislation and projects with respect to transgender persons.
- The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has launched National Portal for Transgender Persons on 25th November, 2020. Any Transgender applicant can obtain Certificate of Identity and Identity Card without any physical interface with the office of issue. The person who has been issued a certificate of identity are entitled to change the first name in the birth certificate and all other official documents relating to the identity of such person.
- Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has initiated 12 pilot shelter homes namely ‘Garima Greh’: Shelter Home for Transgender Persons. The main aim of these shelter homes is to provide safe and secure shelter to Transgender persons in need. These pilot shelter homes are in States of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Delhi, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu and Odisha. Ministry has provided full financial assistance to community based organizations (CBOs) for setting up of these shelter homes which provide basic amenities like food, shelter, medical care, recreational facilities and also conduct capacity-building and skill development programmes for Transgender persons.
- The Ministry has planned to impart skill development training to the Transgender beneficiaries of the SMILE Scheme through PM-DAKSH – a skill development scheme of the Ministry.
