Visibility and Social Acceptability of Kerala’s Transgender Population: A Comparative Study of the Periods Before and After the Transgender Policy

Abstract

The State of Kerala in India is considered to be a progressive one, especially in its approach towards the transgender community in recent years. Following the Supreme Court verdict of 2014 (NALSA Judgement), recognising transgender people as the third gender and granting them the right to self-identification, Kerala was the first to formulate a Transgender policy in 2015. The aim of the policy as recommended by the apex court is to "grant legal recognition of their gender identity" and to end discrimination and stigmatisation. Despite this progressive measure, the community is still socially discriminated against in terms of their gender identity, which becomes a significant hurdle in the effective implementation of the policy. The trans population in Kerala, unlike in the other states, remained invisible for a long time. Most of them either hesitated to come out of their closets or migrated to other states where they could find people of their community. Expressing their gender identity was not an easy task for them in Kerala because of two reasons: the invisibility of the transgender community and the adamantine chains of the society, which never let its conformity be questioned. The study examines the changing scenario in the visibility of transgender people as a community in Kerala after the formulation of the Transgender Policy.