Trans persons welcome Madras High Court order on horizontal reservation

CHENNAI: In what is being seen as a progressive move, the members of the trans persons’ community have welcomed the Madras High Court order to implement horizontal reservation for trans persons belonging to all castes in the State within three months.

Additionally, the community urges the government to conduct a census of the exact numbers of all castes in Tamil Nadu.

The court also quashed the government order (GO) issued by the State on April 6, 2015, which mentioned providing vertical reservation for trans persons by notifying them as Most Backward Class (MBC) regardless of their actual caste for education and employment opportunities.

However, Rakshika Raj, a trans woman nurse and a social activist, filed a petition with the court in 2022 to strike down the 2015 GO. Speaking to DT Next, Rakshika said the earlier order saw her gender for reservation over her caste.

“The 2015 circular does not give me the rightful opportunities in our society. The vertical reservation that the circular speaks about is discrimination against trans persons. But, the horizontal reservation will give us the right kind of chances in education and employment,” said Rakshika.

The implementation of horizontal reservation by the government in subsequent months as per the court’s direction will be beneficial to trans women, trans men and intersex (a person born with the combination of both female and male biological traits).

“Considering all trans persons as MBC is depriving us of our rights and exposes us to more hurdles. But, after the government conducts the much-needed survey on the transgender population, the implementation of a quota based on caste will uplift the gender to better standards,” she said. Likewise, Living Smile Vidya, a Dalit-trans activist who is an author and theatre practitioner, welcomed the court’s direction to implement horizontal reservation and simultaneously quashing the 2015 GO.

“The demand for horizontal reservation has been long-pending, perhaps since 2006. Hence, we community members welcome the court’s direction to implement reservation, which is only logical and about time,” said Vidya.

Vidya also pointed out that the idea of reservation is defeated if all trans persons are counted as MBC. Further, Vidya called for unity within the community so that the reservation would rightfully benefit all community members.

While the court has still not mentioned the percentage of reservations for trans persons in Tamil Nadu, the members have urged the government to swiftly conduct the survey to ascertain the exact number of trans persons from all castes.

The court quashed the GO issued in 2015, which mentioned providing vertical reservation for trans persons as MBC