Kerala government to include 'Transgender' as gender option in application forms

In a landmark decision, the Left Front government in Kerala on Monday decided to include transgender as gender option in all application forms in its departments in an effort to further reach out to the marginalised section.

State Health Minister K K Shailaja said an order has been issued to add the transgender option in all application forms related to the Kerala government.

"An order has been issued to add transgender/transwoman/transman in all application forms of the state government along with the options of female/male. This will help in the upliftment of the transgender community," Shailaja said in a release.

Kerala is the first State in India which declared a Transgender Policy after the landmark judgment of the Supreme Court in 2014 which firmly established the right to equality and equal protection for transgender persons.

"In Kerala, which has a transgender policy and finances their gender reassignment surgery, it was decided that the applications can be changed to female/male/transgender/transwoman/ transman."

"The decision was taken after understanding that the inclusion of this category in the application form would be beneficial to transgender individuals as their identities are clearly stated in the Transgender Personnel Protection of Rights Act, 2019," the minister said.

Consistent with the 2014 apex court judgment, the State policy allows for the self-identification of a person as a Transgender.

The policy also recommends the establishment of District-level Transgender Boards that can register and issue identification cards.