Third Gender Update, Bangladesh and Germany

Bangladesh has recognized the gender identity of hijras, whose rights are now recognized, including the right to identify their gender as hijra on government-issued documents, including passports (November 2013).

Germany (October 2013) has become the first country in Europe to permit babies with characteristics of both sexes to be registered as neither male nor female. Parents can choose to leave the gender category blank, creating the category of "indeterminate sex."

More on hijras in Pakistan, courtesy NPR

"This year, hijras won a key legal battle to have a third gender option on national ID cards. About 50,000 Pakistanis are classified as hijras like Mehvish. The category includes self-reported transgender men and women, as well as transvestites, hermaphrodites and eunuchs." Check out the rest of the report here.

More on Pakistani hijras

"Spurred by the forceful chief justice, Iftikhar Chaudhry, who was restored after countrywide protests last year, normally moribund authorities have been ordered to ensure hijras enjoy the same rights as other Pakistanis, in matters of inheritance, employment and election registration."

By Declan Walsh, writing in The Guardian, Jan. 29. Read on. And be sure to watch the slide show.

Hijras: legal recognition, India and Pakistan

Rather amazing.

India.

India's Election Commission has given eunuchs an independent identity by letting them choose their gender as "other" on ballot forms.

Read more here. (BBC, Nov. 13)

And Pakistan.

Pakistan's Supreme Court says eunuchs must be allowed to identify themselves as a distinct gender in order to ensure their rights.

BBC, Dec. 23. More here.

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