Opposition to Transgender Persons Rights Amendment Bill gains steam in Karnataka

Members of LGBTQIA+ communities held protests across Karnataka, categorically opposing the recently proposed Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, 2026. 

Bengaluru

Members of LGBTQIA+ communities held protests across Karnataka, categorically opposing the recently proposed Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, 2026. 

Banners opposing the bill were displayed and candlelight protests were held in places including Bengaluru, Kolar, Ballari, Belagavi, Bidar, Hassan and Hospete.  

In Bengaluru, a public discussion on the Bill was held by Sangama, a gender minorities’ rights organisation, to raise awareness among community members about what the Bill proposes. Speakers highlighted that the Bill fails to address the diversity within the community and warned that, if enacted into law, it could undo the rights and recognition that the community achieved through years of struggle.

“Till now, it was enough that I declared myself as a transwoman. But the new Bill demands that I strip myself in front of another person who would then decide what my gender is. What gives another person the right to decide my gender?” questioned Savita, a transgender rights activist.

The Bill limits “transgender person” to socio-cultural identities such as kinner, hijra, aravani, jogta, eunuch, intersex or congenital variations, and those forced into such identities, while excluding people defined by sexual orientation and self-identified gender.