US consulate puts transgender's visa on hold

[suzifrommd]

US consulate puts transgender's visa on hold

Anuja Jaiswal, TNN | May 6, 2015

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/US-consulate-puts-transgenders-visa-on-hold/articleshow/47174870.cms

Though the Supreme Court of India has recognised transgenders as the "third gender", the US Embassy in Kolkata has put on hold the visitors visa application of Chhattisgarh transgender, Amruta Alpesh Soni, who is also the nodal officer in the state's health department, as her Indian passport mentions her sex as "T" (transgender).

[iKate]

The real problem is the Indian Government pushing trans people into the third gender ghetto.

That said, our consulate shouldn't deny a visa for that reason.

[Ian68]

Referring to someone as "a transgender" is extremely offensive.

That aside...

Transgender people should be allowed to list our genders on visas, including a third gender (not everyone wants to check an M or F box).  My understanding of Indian culture is that the transgender women their do mostly consider themselves as a third gender - likely because of how they conceptualize gender, which is totally valid.

[cindy16]

The real problem is the Indian Government pushing trans people into the third gender ghetto.

My understanding of Indian culture is that the transgender women their do mostly consider themselves as a third gender

Both of you are partially right. Until the Indian Supreme Court passed a very progressive judgment last year and then the Upper House passed a bill last month, the only way the Indian government knew how to deal with transgender people was to push them into a 'third gender' ghetto.
See https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,189229.0.html for the recent bill passed, and https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,189231.0.html for how that and the judgment has emboldened trans people to come forward and assert their real gender identities.

I am an Indian trans woman, and when I do come out of the closet and want to change the 'M' marker on my documents, I would directly want to change it to 'F', not to 'T' or go via 'T'. I believe many of the trans women here who are visible and live off begging on the streets or sex work etc might also prefer to identify as women, but they knew for many years that wouldn't have been possible in our ultra-conservative society, so they figured the 'third gender' option was better than being identified as male. Not to say that none of them genuinely identify as 'third gender', just that there is a mix of identities and there are practical reasons involved too, not just personal or cultural ones.

The Indian trans men on the other hand that I know of, would all prefer to change their markers from 'F' to 'M', not 'T' at all. They don't have a visible socio-cultural identity like many trans women, and so are integrated into but also hidden from mainstream society, although with huge risks to safety and all. There might be transmasculine people here who identify as 'third gender', but I don't know of any and I don't think it is as common as among trans women.