Gender Minorities to contest in the Assembly Elections

Tamil Nadu has been a pioneer in protecting and promoting the Rights of minority groups including groups marginalized because of Religion, Language, Sexuality and Gender. In the recent past there has been a strong demand for representation of sexual and gender minorities in the political sphere. In these elections several people from the Sexual and Gender minority groups have applied for nominations to different political parties to contest in elections on behalf of their parties.

Transwomen like Ragasiya, (DMK), Radhika, (DMDK) and Sudha, (AIADMK) have already applied with the respective parties. And one Ms.Devi has already been nominated from Naam Thamizhar Katchi. On behalf of the Civil Society Organisations, NGOs and CBOs in Tamil Nadu, we request other political parties to similarly give equal opportunities to other members from the LGBTQ groups for the coming assembly elections. We also request the Election Commission to reserve seats for these communities in order to ensure representation of their needs. We believe when such representation is available it will give them an opportunity to improve their status as well as to participate in serving others in the society. Therefore political parties as well as the election commission should consider our request and ensure Tamil Nadu is in the forefront of providing a model for equal opportunities for sex and gender minorities in the country.