31/03/2026
π Today, on the Transgender Day of Visibility, we acknowledge the power of being seen β on oneβs own terms, with dignity and autonomy. The Indian President Droupadi Murmu has given her assent to the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, 2026, despite widespread protests. With the proposed bill now being law, the State will play a greater role in determining who is recognized, and on what terms.
Trans activists and scholars have long pointed that visibility β liberation. It can also mean increased surveillance and violence. To be seen by the State is not the same as being safe. By limiting legal recognition to only historically accepted socio-cultural trans groups, the State is deciding who gets to be trans. It is deciding, in law, who gets to exist.
βOn a day we celebrate trans visibility, we must also ask: visible to whom, on whose terms, and at what cost? Visibility that requires trans people to prove their identity to a medical board takes away their dignity. Laws and policies that claim to recognize trans people while restricting their identities make them both hyper visible and invisible at the same time β visible to the State, but invisible within systems that exclude those who do not fit narrow definitions of who is recognizedβ, notes Sylvester Merchant, Trans Rights Activist and Community Engagement and Partnerships Lead, IPPF South Asia Region.
Across South Asia and the globe, we are seeing similar patterns emerge. Laws are being used to decide which bodies are legitimate, whose rights matter, and which movements are dangerous. The answer to this coordinated rollback of our rights is coordinated resistance. As we come together and strengthen cross-movement solidarities, the International Planned Parenthood Federation - IPPF will continue to work alongside trans, inters*x and gender-diverse communities to defend self-determination, and advance s*xual and reproductive health, rights and justice for all.
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The proposed amendments to India's trans rights law will further marginalize trans and gender diverse communities by reinforcing medical gatekeeping, stigma, and exclusion.