Handbook on rights of LGBT people launched

A handbook on the rights of transgender and gender non-conforming people was launched here Thursday.

The Centre for Health, Law, Ethics and Technology (CHLET) of the Jindal Global Law School (JGLS) launched the handbook "Rights of Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming People in India" in the presence of representatives of the community.

Speaking on the occasion, founding Vice-Chancellor of the O P Jindal Global University and Dean of the Jindal Global Law School, Professor C Raj Kumar said "academicians must come out of their comfort zone" and work with transgender communities.

"There are very few educational spaces that provide opportunities to move beyond the classroom and engage with social movements that have the potential for fundamental social transformation," he said.

He said the academic world does not give opportunities for such engagement but "we want such work to be taken forward for core research, community activism and advocacy".

The handbook narrates the 2014 Supreme Court decision in the case of National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) vs Union of India that had granted legal recognition to the rights of transgender and gender non-conforming people in India, a release said.

The handbook is divided into four chapters -- constitutional law, criminal law, getting government identification, and the Right to Information. It will be available online in seven regional languages, it added.

Policy analyst of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Zainab Patel, also spoke on the occasion and applauded the handbook.

Transgender activists, present at the event, welcomed the move saying "no empowerment is complete without legal empowerment".