Transphobia And Its Judicial Views

Gowri R Nair, Mar Gregorios College of Law, Kerala

ABSTRACT

The main aim of the law is to enforce equality and justice. Everyone in the present era has the right to exist in society regardless of any discrimination. Gender Identity is the most fundamental aspect of one’s life, showing one’s value, whether it is a male or female or more than two. In the present era, apart from these two, i.e. male and female, the other recognized gender is “transgender”. Transphobia is a condition of having strong hatred or discrimination against the third gender, i.e. transgender, because of their gender identity. Some of the problems faced by these communities are marginalization, harassment in the educational system, poor economic conditions, discrimination in the workplace, negative media representation, and many more. The transgender community got recognized in India through the case of National Legal Service Authority v. Union of India1. In this case, the Hon’ble Supreme Court stated about the methods and precautions to be taken to get rid of the discrimination and the inequality faced by the transgender community. There are further various judicial decisions that are also included in this article which ensure different rights of the transgender community. Transgender communities are not accepted in today’s society due mainly due to transphobia. Their rights are strongly rejected and violated for the same. They are not given due respect which affects their dignity and right to life confronted by the Indian Constitution. Even in the presence of various rules and legislations for their protection, the enforcement of the same is incomplete.