Third gender option in TN college forms

The Times of India
(also appeared in TOI New Delhi of 14th May, 2008)
14 May 2008, 0622 hrs IST,Radha Venkatesan,TNN

COIMBATORE: After providing ration cards and welfare board for transsexuals, the Tamil Nadu government, for the first time in the country, has officially opened the Arts and Science colleges to the third gender. In a unique concession for them, all the government and aided colleges will admit them as "transgenders" and they will share 30% of the seats reserved for women. The State Directorate of Collegiate Education in its newly-designed application form for the degree courses in all its colleges has included the transgender as a separate category. Under the column "sex", the application forms now provide three options: Male, Female and Transgender. Till now, transsexuals managed to enrol in colleges only as males, though it went against their gender preferences. However, this year, the transsexuals can join any Arts and Science colleges, be it co-educational or men’s or women’s colleges, as a "thiru nangai" (Tamil name for transgender). "Transgenders can join any Arts and Science college retaining their status as transgenders," the Joint Director of Collegiate Education, Coimbatore region, Dr D Rudrappan told TOI. Government colleges here say they would admit any transgender who applies regardless of their merit. "We will give them special consideration and admit them regardless of the marks they have scored in the class XII exam," said N Yesodha Devi, principal of PSGR Krishnammal College for Women. For transsexuals like Divya Krishnan, who have been waiting for this "special recognition" for a few years now, it is a dream come true. "I have been wanting to join the teacher training institute for the past two years. But my application has been rejected consistently. This year, I will get admission." A diploma holder in Electronics and Communication, Malavika, said she was forced to study in a men’s college, where she was "teased and harassed" by the college boys.

Former man and wife remarry as two women

By Stephen Adams
Telegraph.co.uk
(also came in Times of India, New Delhi)

2nd May, 2008

Two women have remarried, more than 30 years after they walked down the aisle together as man and wife.

Emma Martin, who has had a sex change, and Linda Packer tied the knot in a civil ceremony to preserve the tax and pension rights they enjoyed as a married couple.

They got their marriage annulled after Linda's husband Martin decided to have a sex-change operation. He had felt unhappy with his gender since he was four.

The change in Martin's legal gender status when he became Emma meant they could not remain married under law.

That left the pair, who described themselves as "soulmates", facing large inheritance tax bills should one of them die.

It also caused problems with life insurance and pensions rights.

Consequently they decided to remarry, despite not being in a sexual relationship.

The couple from Little Downham, near Ely in Cambridgeshire, first married in 1977 and never had children.

Martin Packer told his wife in 1998 that he wanted to change his sex, and he subsequently underwent treatments including electrolysis to remove body hair and hormone replacement therapy, before going under the knife.

Now calling herself Emma Martin, the 60-year-old IT consultant explained: "We are, and always have been, soulmates and best friends ever since 1977 when we got married.

"But, to get my gender recognition certificate, we had to get our marriage annulled.

"When that happened we would have been liable for inheritance tax but it also messed up life insurance and pension rights.

"The simplest thing would have been if we could have had a transfer from a marriage to a civil partnership but that wasn’t possible and it was such a farce to get all the paperwork sorted out.

"From the outside it looks like we are in a relationship and Linda doesn’t really like that because we are not," she told the Daily Mail.

Under the Gender Recognition Act 2004, marriages in which one spouse has a sex change are not permitted to continue.

As a result Miss Martin faced a choice - either remain legally a man and stay married to Linda, or become a woman, have the union annulled and remarry her.

The financial security the couple now enjoy under their civil partnership contrasts with the position of elderly sisters Joyce and Sybil Burden, aged 90 and 82, who have lived together all their lives.

Under current legislation the surviving sister will face a £50,000 inheritance tax bill when the other dies, forcing her to sell their Marlborough home.

Earlier this week they lost an appeal at the European Court of Human Rights ruling to be granted the same tax and inheritance rights as married couples and civil partners.

In a statement after the ruling they said they were "struggling to understand" why they "should find themselves in such a position in the UK in the 21st century".

Eunuch sets self on fire

The Times of India
Friday, May 2, 2008

Times News Network

On Thursday, a 21 year-old eunuch, Tuhiya, tried to immolate herself in her house in Khajoori Khas in north-east Delhi. According to the police, she has received 80% burns and is admitted at GTB hospital.According to a statement given to the police, Tuhiya said that she had had a relationship with a 23-old driver. Earlier the two often met up. However, about two months back, he stopped coming to her house and finally stopped communicating with her. A couple of days back, he informed her that he had married someone. Shocked by the revelation, she set herself on fire. The police have lodged a case and are investigating the matter.

toireporter@timesgroup.com