LGBTQIA+ people and their supporters protest against Transgender Amendment bill
Babushahi Bureau
Chandigarh, March 21, 2026 : A large number of LGBTQIA+ people and their supporters protested against the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill 2026, calling it an assault on the rights of transgender persons at Sector 17 Plaza, here today.
The bill, listed for discussion in the Lok Sabha next week, has invited criticism from across India with similar protest marches held in different cities. The protesters in Chandigarh held posters and banners asking the Members of the Parliament to reject the bill.
“The proposed amendments to the 2019 law takes away the right to self identification enshrined in the landmark NALSA judgment and violates privacy and bodily autonomy,” said Yashika, a Dalit transgender activist and PhD scholar at Panjab University. “The bill only recognises traditional identities like Hijra and Kinner persons, and intersex persons. Instead of offering horizontal reservations, right to chosen family and access to safe housing and healthcare, the government is taking away whatever little rights we have.”
The protesters also raised the issue of erasure of transmasculine and gender diverse identities from the law. “Transmasculine people don’t have cultural identities like Hijra or Kinner persons. Does that mean they will cease to exist when this bill is passed? The 2019 law was passed after decades of struggle and we will continue to fight for our right to equality and self determination,” said Simran, the founder of Queering in Chandigarh (QIC), a group of LGBTQIA+ persons.
The amendment bill violates privacy and bodily autonomy by proposing that a medical board must certify transgender identity. “This would put transgender individuals through unnecessary scrutiny and deny them gender-affirmative treatment, including surgical procedures, thus forcing them to go for unsafe and painful interventions at informal places run by quacks,” said Ausaf, a student activist and member of QIC.
The protesters also raised objection to insertion of punitive provision, which can impact the support structure of transgender persons. “The text is vague and can be misused against any individual or organisation supporting transgender persons. Such a problematic language could have been avoided if the government had consulted transgender people before coming up with the bill,” Yashika added.