Madras high court (File Photo)
The Tamil Nadu government was asked by the Madras High Court to respond to a plea seeking the unavailability of gender-neutral toilets for transgender persons in the state.
The court was hearing a petition filed by a transgender person who demanded the state government be proactive in providing gender-neutral toilets at public places such as bus stops, railway stations, airports etc.
The petitioner’s counsel argued that while the government has allowed non-binary persons and transgenders to use toilets according to their self-identified gender, the ground reality is they face abuse and harassment.
When the bench asked why is there no provision as the demand seems to be legitimate, the state counsel replied that constructing such toilets will take time.
The bench even pointed out that there are no such toilets in the high court premises also and suggested the conversion of existing toilets into gender-neutral ones.
“We do not have a gender-neutral toilet even in our High Court premises. While such toilets must be constructed, in the meantime, if some of the existing public toilets are reserved to be used only by trans persons, their problem can be solved. There are so many public toilets for the physically disabled that lie unused or locked. Why don’t you reserve some of them for trans persons, and convert them into gender-neutral ones?” the bench said
This post was last modified on February 1, 2023 8:28 pm