GENDER NEUTRALITY
No provision for 2 dads, trans man seeks ‘parent’ tag on kids’ passports
Priya.Menon@timesgroup.com
Chennai:28.12.2021
Four decades, a marriage, two children and a divorce – that’s what it took before Tarun (name changed) could finally publicly embrace his identity as a man of transgender experience. But the battle for his legal rights is far from over.
The 42-year-old on December 13 filed a petition in the Madras high court requesting that the gender-neutral term ‘parent’ be included in Indian passports instead of the gender-specific ‘mother’ or ‘father’ so his name can be included in the passports of his minor children.
“I can’t travel abroad with my children now as the passport can only have the names of the father, mother or legal guardian. There is no provision to have the names of two fathers. But it wouldn’t be a problem if the term ‘parent’ is used,” says Tarun.
“If my dead (former) name is on my children’s passports, I won’t be able to explain my relationship to them to immigration officials,” says Tarun, an LGBTQIA+ affirmative counsellor. The HC, which heard the petition on December 16, asked the ministry of external affairs and the regional passport office to respond in eight weeks.
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