India News > Transvestites (sic)seek right to vote as the third sex
(Aavani seek right to vote as the third sex)

Chennai, Mar 25 (IANS) :

Tamil Nadu's transvestites Thursday protested against an Election Commission (EC) rule that stipulates voters can only classify themselves as either male or female.The protest followed a Madras High Court direction to the EC to register transvestites as voters and give wide publicity to the fact that they had the right to vote.Transvestites have been demanding a right to vote under an independent category for some years now. The court Tuesday heard a public interest petition from a transvestite, A. Rajni, who is a member of the Southern Districts Women's Federation, demanding separate voter identity cards. Most transvestites have not been able to exercise their franchise till now, not being able to fill the EC form, which seeks sex specification as male or female.The state government told the court that there are 140,000 "Aravani (transvestites)" in Tamil Nadu. Only 11 of them are registered as voters, after specifying themselves as either male or female. Ahigh court bench, comprising Chief Justice Subhashan Reddy and judge M. Thanickachalam, said transvestites should be told that while filling the voter registration form, they are free to call themselves either male or female according to their preference."We do not want to call ourselves either male or female," protsted Rajni.

yes... Rajni... has it right...