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India's Supreme Court creates official third sex for eunuchs and transgenders
After two thousand years of persecution, India's two million eunuchs to be formally recognised as third sex and listed as 'backward' caste entitled to reserved government jobs and university places

By Dean Nelson, New Delhi
1:25PM BST 15 Apr 2014

India's Supreme Court has created an official third sex for its transgender eunuchs and announced they will have a quota of government jobs and college places to help them overcome discrimination.

The decision was met with jubilation by transgender charities who said it was a milestone in their fight against marginalisation in Indian society.

"We are elated and thankful to the court," said Kalki Subramanium, a leading transgender rights activist. "The decision has come after a century of suppression and marginalisation by the legal and social systems.

"This verdict is certainly landmark and a new beginning. The biggest challenge is the social recognition. We have to educate and make people aware that we exist and there's nothing abnormal about us. This will give a boost to the transgenders who want to study or work but were denied a chance. They can now be part of the mainstream,"

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The court ruled that those who have been castrated or undergone gender reassignment surgery, as well as those who present themselves as not of the sex they were born into, can all be classified as transgender.

In its ruling, the Supreme Court said the Indian constitution provides equal opportunity "irrespective of caste, religion or gender". Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan said the "recognition of transgender (people) as a third gender is not a social or medical issue but a human rights issue."

It ordered the government to launch public awareness campaigns to end the stigma transgenders suffer.

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