The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 is an Act of the Parliament of India, which aims to protect the rights of transgender people, ensure their welfare, and prohibit discrimination against them. The Act was created in response to the Supreme Court's landmark 2014 judgment in National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) v. Union of India. The ratio of the NALSA judgment, delivered on April 15, 2014, was that transgender persons have the constitutional right to self-identify their gender, and the State is bound to recognize them as a third gender, as denial of this right violates Articles 14, 15, 16, 19(1)(a), and 21 of the Constitution.
The 2019 Act was introduced in the Lok Sabha on July 19, 2019, and received the President's assent on December 5, 2019, coming into effect on January 10, 2020. Key provisions include Section 3, which prohibits discrimination against transgender persons in areas like education, employment, healthcare, and access to public services. Sections 4-7 establish the right to self-perceived gender identity and the mechanism for obtaining a Certificate of Identity from the District Magistrate. The Act also mandates the establishment of a National Council for Transgender Persons (NCT) to advise the Central Government on policies. The Act defines a transgender person in Section 2(k) as one whose gender does not match the gender assigned at birth, including trans-men, trans-women, persons with intersex variations, genderqueer, and socio-cultural identities like kinnar and hijra.
The Act connects directly to the NALSA judgment and the subsequent SMILE (Support for Marginalized Individuals for Livelihood and Enterprise) scheme, launched on February 12, 2022, which provides welfare measures like livelihood and healthcare. Recently, the Act has been subject to significant proposed changes through the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, 2026, which was passed by Parliament on March 25, 2026. This amendment replaces the broad definition in Section 2(k) with a narrower, medically-defined framework and introduces a mandatory medical board examination for the Certificate of Identity, fundamentally shifting the recognition of gender identity from self-determination to medical certification.