"Is She Really Trans, Or..."

–Syndy H. M.

Only a couple of days back, a friend of mine and I got to talking about a writing contest. He awkwardly said he felt odd being the only boy in the team. I said, "Oh, no, we do have another boy in our team. I'll show you a picture of him." Let us imagine this second boy is called Aman.

My friend took a look and remarked, "No, that's a girl, I have seen her on social media before." I explained that Aman had recently come out as a trans boy. To this my friend confusedly replied:

"Is she really trans, or does she just think she is?"

I hear remarks like this all the time, and every time it throws me off. Multiple times, it has so happened that even after explaining the difference between gender and sex to cisgender people, they still choose not to use someone's preferred pronouns because it is too 'confusing' to remember. Many of us have heard about the shocking passage of the Transgender Persons Amendment Act, 2026, passed on March 30, 2026. Before this, the Transgender Persons Act, 2019, was in place, which allowed self-identification of gender. Compared to the earlier law, the 2026 Act has narrowed the legal definition of who is recognised as transgender and imposed stricter requirements, which have left many previously protected individuals excluded. It was a dark day not only for all queer Indian lives, but also for the whole of India as a nation. Despite being a secular state which upheld values of equality at its core, the present of India seems to have failed it.

The Act makes punishments for crimes against transgender persons harsher, no doubt, but does it really help? By narrowing down the strata of groups and individuals recognised as transgender, the Act has done more harm than good. In simple terms, here is who is now included: intersex people, eunuchs, persons who have been forced to medically transition, and certain socio-cultural groups such as Hijra and Kinner. However, those who are excluded include: people who experience gender dysphoria and disconnect from the sex assigned to them at birth, transgender men and women who have not undergone surgery or medical transition, nonbinary identities, and anyone whose identity does not fit the limited categories the government now recognises.

When one thinks about this division, they might feel relief when they find that at least some groups have been protected. But when you think deeper into it, you will find that this legal classification of 'Who is really trans' and 'Who is pretending to be trans' is transphobic to those included in the strata as well as to the ones excluded. Why are intersex people automatically labelled as trans, even if they consider themselves to be cisgender (for instance, assigned female at birth and continuing to identify as female)?

Why are people who haven't gone through sex reassignment surgery disregarded?

Why are people who have voluntarily undergone sex reassignment not considered trans, but the ones who may have been forced are considered to be?

Why is there no mention of transgender men or genderqueer persons in the Act? And why is there all the effort to disregard trans identity in the name of protection, but no real desire to get oppressed socio-cultural groups like the Hijra and Kinner off the streets and into schools and offices?

If an individual wants to change their gender and pronouns in legal documents now, they are required to get a medical certificate signed by a board of medical professionals. This essentially brings gender down to what kind of body part we have between our legs. The government now refuses to recognise the difference between gender and sex, and that is a big step down in the ladder to being the fully developed country that India strives to be. With the government refusing to acknowledge the existence of many trans individuals, many have lost their hopes. We can hardly expect ordinary citizens of a country to be more progressive than the leaders running it, for such a government has, in turn, been brought to power as a reflection of the entirety of our population. And so far, the reflection of our population is failing the very idea of India.

Every educated Indian has read or heard the Preamble of our prided Constitution at least once in their lifetime. And every one of us who has must also hear the cries of the many fellow Indians we have failed collectively.

Final verdict? Where is our JUSTICE, or is an oppressive Act disguised as 'protection' our reality?

Where is our LIBERTY to choose who we are?

When will we know EQUALITY, or will you continue to look up our skirts and trousers before you decide to allow us that?

Where is this FRATERNITY? Or are we to keep to ourselves, and forever hope that someday, someday we can all be the children of the same country, arm-in-arm together?

Alas, the future for us looks bleak. Live in your delusion of a perfect sovereign state, knowing you have adopted and enacted wonderful ideals. We will continue to fight for our rights, and the day we win, India will have truly become the India our forefathers dreamt of.