In India, 36 change gender through affidavits

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http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/City/Bhubaneswar/36-change-gender-through-affidavits/articleshow/47305741.cms 🔗

TNN | May 16, 2015, 11.25AM IST

BHUBANESWAR: Emboldened by the Supreme Court verdict, 36 individuals of Angul town on Friday approached a court to change their gender identity.

All of them were assigned male as their gender at birth. While two of them swore by affidavits and identified themselves as women, 34 identified themselves as transgender.

"It is the first mass filing of affidavits for change in gender identity in the state after the Supreme Court judgment," said Biswa Bhusan Pattanayak, project manager of SAATHII, a voluntary organization.

In April 2014, the apex court said someone assigned male at birth can have one's gender recognized legally as woman or transgender while a female at birth can change gender to man or transgender.

Suna Ghara, a community-based organization of men having sex with men (MSM), transgender and hijra people, and SAATHII facilitated their gender identity change, a release said.

Pattanayak said gender means one's personal, social and legal status as man, woman or transgender, which could be different from one's biological sex.