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An amendment bill which provides graded punishment for bodily harm to transgender persons has received the assent of President Draupadi Murmu. Opposition MPs had slammed the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, 2026, for excluding gays and lesbians from its ambit. An authority has been established to determine whether a person is transgender, a provision that also faced backlash from the opposition. According to a law ministry notification dated March 30, the amended law will come into effect on a date appointed by the Central Government through a notification in the official gazette. During debates in both Houses of Parliament, while the government said the objective is to protect transgender persons, the opposition slammed the proposed legislation for taking away the right to self-determination of identity, such as gay and lesbian individuals, and demanded that it be sent to a standing committee for proper consultations. The bill seeks to give a precise ...
Transgender women athletes are now excluded from women's events at the Olympics after the IOC agreed to a new eligibility policy on Thursday which aligns with U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order on sports ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Games. "Eligibility for any female category event at the Olympic Games or any other IOC event, including individual and team sports, is now limited to biological females," the International Olympic Committee said, to be determined by a mandatory gene test once in an athlete's career. It is unclear how many, if any, transgender women are competing at an Olympic level. No woman who transitioned from being born male competed at the 2024 Paris Summer Games, though weightlifter Laurel Hubbard did at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 without winning a medal. The eligibility policy that will apply from the LA Olympics in July 2028 "protects fairness, safety and integrity in the female category," the IOC said. "It is not retroactive and does not apply to a
Parliament on Wednesday passed a bill to amend a law on protection and rights of transgender persons that proposes excluding social orientations from the ambit of the statute, with Rajya Sabha giving its nod. The bill, which seeks to amend Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Act 2019, also provides for graded punishment based on the gravity of harm inflicted on such people. The bill was passed in Lok Sabha on Tuesday. Replying to the debate on the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, 2026, in the Upper House, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Virendra Kumar said the proposed legislation is an effort to take along all segments of the society together. He said that the bill aims to provide protection to only those who face discrimination due to biological issues. The minister asserted that the amendment will ensure that transgender persons continue to get legal recognition and protection. The Modi government is committed to protecting all
Transgender and queer collectives, along with individuals, on Saturday opposed the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, 2026, demanding its immediate withdrawal and terming it "discriminatory". Addressing a press conference here, community representatives alleged that the Bill proposes a restrictive redefinition of "transgender persons". "It collapses intersex and transgender identities into a single category, despite these being distinct experiences. It also removes the right to self-identification, limiting legal recognition to specific socio-cultural identities such as Hijra, Kinnar, Aravani or Jogti, thereby excluding many others," community spokesperson Prasant Meera said. He added that the Bill assumes individuals are forced into transgender identities through "coercion" or "undue influence". The Supreme Court's 2014 NALSA judgment stated that "transgender" is an umbrella term recognising persons whose gender identity differs from the sex assigned at bir
A bill seeking to give a precise definition of the term "transgender" and provide graded punishments that reflect the gravity of the harm inflicted upon such persons was introduced in Lok Sabha on Friday. It also underlines that a transgender person "shall not include, nor shall ever have been so included, persons with different sexual orientations and self-perceived sexual identities". The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill was introduced by Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Virendra Kumar. It notes that it is imperative to give a precise definition for proper and definitive identification and protection of transgender persons, to whom the benefits of the present law must reach. The protection and benefits that are provided under the present 2019 law are vast in nature, and therefore, care has to be taken that "such identification cannot be extended based on any acquirable characteristics or personal choice or claimed self-perceived identity of an ...
The upcoming Census will collect data on sex of head of household--Male, Female and Transgender, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Wednesday. Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai, in a written response, said Census 2027 will be conducted in two phases. The questions for the first phase, which covers Houselisting and Housing Census, have been notified. "Information on Housing condition, Household particulars including name and sex of the head of the household, amenities available and assets possessed by household will be collected in this phase. Three categories of sex of head of household viz. Male/Female/Transgender will be collected," Rai said. Questions for the second phase, which is Population Enumeration where information of each individual will be collected, will be notified in due course, he added. The minister said enumerators shall undertake house-to-house field visits in the entire enumeration area for the collection of Census data to avoid any exclusion on any
The Delhi government is likely to notify rules for the inclusion of transgender persons under the SMILE scheme, Garima Greh shelter homes and Ayushman Bharat TG Plus health coverage within the next 15 days. An official said that the rules will provide legal recognition, access to livelihood support, healthcare, education, rehabilitation and protection against discrimination for transgender persons. These rules will be in line with the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 and constitutional guarantees of equality and dignity, he said. The draft rules have completed the consultation process, and the gazette notification file has been sent for the final signature of the lieutenant governor, after which the rules will be formally notified and implemented across Delhi, he told PTI. The move follows an order issued on November 19, 2025, by the central government, asking all states and Union territories to adopt and implement the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights)
The Pentagon has rolled out a new policy that will severely undercut the ability for transgender troops who have been banned from the armed forces by the Trump administration to turn to boards of their peers to argue for their right to stay in the military, according to a memo obtained by The Associated Press. If military separation boards decide to allow transgender service members to remain in uniform, commanders can override that decision, according to an Oct 8 memo to all the services from the Pentagon's undersecretary for personnel and readiness, Anthony Tata. That breaks with longstanding policy that boards act independently. It is the Pentagon's latest step to drive transgender troops out of the armed forces following an executive order from President Donald Trump. He and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth have targeted diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in what they say is an effort to make the military more lethal. The adminstration's policies have faced pushback in the .
King Charles III on Monday dedicated Britain's first national memorial to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender troops, 25 years after the UK ended a ban on homosexuality in the armed forces. The king, who is the ceremonial head of the armed forces, laid flowers at the monument in the National Memorial Arboretum in central England at a service attended by scores of serving troops and veterans. The sculpture takes the form of a crumpled bronze letter bearing words from personnel who were affected by the ban. Between 1967 and 2000, soldiers, sailors and air force personnel who were or were thought to be gay or transgender were labelled unfit to serve and dismissed or discharged from the forces. Some were stripped of medals or lost their pension rights, and many struggled with the stigma for decades. The government lifted the ban after a 1999 ruling from the European Court of Human Rights. In 2023 then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak formally apologised for what he called an appalling .
President Donald Trump's administration asked the Supreme Court on Friday to let it enforce a passport policy for transgender and nonbinary people that requires male or female sex designations based on birth certificates. The Justice Department appealed a lower-court order allowing people use the gender or X identification marker that lines up with their gender identity. It's the latest in a series of emergency appeals from the Trump administration, many of which have resulted in victories amid litigation, including on banning transgender people from the military. The government argues it can't be required to use sex designations it considers inaccurate on official documents. The plaintiffs, meanwhile, say the policy violates the rights of transgender and nonbinary Americans. The State Department changed its passport rules after Trump, a Republican, handed down an executive order in January declaring the United States would recognize two sexes, male and female," based on what it ..
The Bihar government has constituted a welfare board to protect the rights of the transgender community and take measures for their social development and empowerment, an official said on Friday. A notification for the constitution of the 'Bihar Rajya Kinnar Kalyan Board' was issued by the Social Welfare Department, she said. Bihar Social Welfare Minister Madan Sahni has been made the chairman of the 28-member panel, the official said. The department has constituted the 'Bihar Rajya Kinnar Kalyan Board' to protect the rights of the transgender community and take measures for their social development and empowerment. The board has seven members belonging to the transgender community," Social Welfare Department Secretary Bandana Preyashi told PTI. The measures for the social development of the transgender community will be implemented and monitored by the board, she said. The state government also wants to provide them education and vocational training to prepare them for respectabl
The Delhi government has notified rules for the protection of transgenders' rights, paving the way for the issuance of identity cards to them and forming a welfare board to ensure their well-being, officials said on Wednesday. A recent notification issued by the Social Welfare Department of the government said that in exercise of powers conferred on him, Delhi Lt Governor V K Saxena has made the Delhi Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Rules, 2025. The district magistrates (DMs) concerned will issue a certificate of identity for a transgender person within 30 days of receipt of a duly filled-in application, said the notification. A Transgender Welfare Empowerment Board is to be constituted by the Delhi government. It will consist of the social welfare minister as its ex officio chairman, it said. The Board will also have as its members a representative each from the home, finance, planning, law, labour, health, higher education, education and revenue departments, among othe
The Pentagon will immediately begin moving as many as 1,000 openly identifying transgender service members out of the military and give others 30 days to self-identify, under a new directive issued Thursday. Buoyed by Tuesday's Supreme Court decision allowing the Trump administration to enforce a ban on transgender individuals in the military, the Defence Department will then begin going through medical records to identify others who haven't come forward. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, who issued the latest memo, made his views clear after the court's decision. "No More Trans @ DoD," Hegseth wrote in a post on X. Earlier in the day, before the court acted, Hegseth was more blunt, telling a conference that his department is leaving wokeness and weakness behind. "No more pronouns," he told a special operations forces conference in Tampa. Department officials have said it's difficult to determine exactly how many transgender service members there are, but medical records will show th
The Trump administration on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to allow enforcement of a ban on transgender people in the military, while legal challenges proceed. The high court filing follows a brief order from a federal appeals court that kept in place a court order blocking the policy nationwide. President Donald Trump signed an executive order a week into his term that claims the sexual identity of transgender service members conflicts with a soldier's commitment to an honourable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one's personal life and is harmful to military readiness. In response, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a policy that presumptively disqualifies transgender people from military service. But in March, US District Court Judge Benjamin Settle in Tacoma, Washington, ruled for several long-serving transgender military members who say the ban is insulting and discriminatory, and that their firing would cause lasting damage to their careers and ...
A US District Court judge ordered the Trump administration to unfreeze federal aid to Maine to comply with requirements under a law aimed at prohibiting sex-based discrimination in education. District Court Judge John Woodcock issued a temporary restraining order on Friday in a case brought by the state of Maine against the US Department of Agriculture. An e-mail message seeking comment was sent Saturday to the Agriculture Department. At issue was the freezing of federal funds to Maine for certain administrative and technological functions in the state's schools. A letter from Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins explained the decision stemmed from a disagreement between the state and federal governments over whether Maine was complying with Title IX, the federal law that bans discrimination in education based on sex. Soon after the secretary's letter was sent, Maine's Department of Education could not access several sources of federal funds for a state nutrition program, according