Transgender and non-binary Indians will soon have the option to tick a third box—instead of ‘male’ or ‘female’ when booking a train ticket, The Hindu reports.
India’s Railway Board has announced that people who identify as the third gender—India’s hijra community— will be able to select ’T’ when filling out personal details in preparation for rail travel.
The ’T’ category was introduced last year but passengers were still forced to select ’T Male’ or ’T Female’—which many argued defeated the purpose.
“The matter has been reviewed and it has been decided that till such time the detailed modalities on this account are finalised by the Ministry of Social Justice, a provision may be made in the system to capture the gender of transgender as ‘T’ instead of ‘T(M/F)’ as advised earlier,” the Railway Board wrote in a letter.
Earlier this year, Kochi Rail became the first rail network to offer employment to transgender women.
“They live separately from society, they are not given jobs, their rights are not respected,” rail spokesperson Rashmi CR told the Guardian.
“We want to bring them into the mainstream by ensuring that people interact with them every day – on their way to work, for example.”
