Mx- Around 3,000 City transgenders get an identity
All forms and applications in the city will now have a separate gender-neutral title “Mx”, as the Chandigarh Administration has decided to finally give an identity to the Transgender Community. The Transgender Welfare Board recently wrote to all heads of departments, corporations and boards to examine the issue of the prefix “Ms” for transgenders in forms and applications. 14-member Transgender Welfare Board has been formed by the administration to safeguard the rights of the third gender and also to ensure that they do not face any kind of discrimination. The decision to ask all departments to use the “Mx” prefix before the names of transgenders was taken at the first meeting of the board which was chaired by Additional Deputy Commissioner Rajiv Gupta. Oxford English Dictionary recently included the term “Mx” for trans and gender-nonconforming people to identify themselves in lieu of gender-specific honorifics such as “Mr” and Ms”. Approximately 3,000 transgenders live in the city. Dhananjay Chauhan, director of Saksham Trust and non-official member of the board, said it was a big victory for the community as they had got recognition in the city. Chauhan, the first transgender student of the PU, started the NGO for the rights of the LGBT community in 2009. -PTC News
