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30-yr-old Noor Shekhawat first in Rajasthan to have 'transgender' on birth certificate
Shekhawat was also the first transgender person in Rajasthan to receive a driver’s license after National Legal Services Authority’s (NALSA) 2011 judgement.
Noor Shekhawat, 30, became the first person in Rajasthan to have been issued a birth certificate with gender as transgender on it.
“I had applied for the birth certificate since no matter how hard you try, the discrimination still exists. In order to pursue things in life and feel confident about it, I made this decision,” Shekhawat told HT.
Shekhawat said that her parents hid from her as well as society that she was transgender and there was no provision to record it under the gender category, which is why the certificate issued at her birth recorded her gender as male.
Shekhawat is also the first transgender person in Rajasthan to receive a driver’s license after National Legal Services Authority’s (NALSA) 2011 judgement.
After completing her school education, Shekhawat enrolled for a Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com) in a college at Rajasthan University.
The 30-year-old recalled that she faced immense discrimination, forcing her to drop out of college.
“I took an admission as a first year student in B Com in a college but when I started going there were a lot of people in the college who discriminated and questioned my presence. It was like a mental torture for me. This is why I eventually left studies.”
With her new birth certificate, Shekhawat plans to pursue a B.Com from Rajasthan University.
“I wish to study. I have gotten my gender changed in my 10th and 12th mark sheets too. I feel really confident. I wish to pursue a PhD too so that there is a ‘Dr’ prefix before my name,” she said.
Shekhawat, who runs an NGO for transgender persons, also thanked the Jaipur Municipal Corporation (JMC) for helping her in this process.
Director and joint secretary of the statistics and economics department and chief registrar (Births and Deaths) Bhanwar Lal Bairwa said Shekhawat’s application came to the department through JMC-Greater.
Shekhawat had applied for a birth certificate with transgender under the gender category, he said.
“We have administrative control. Certificates are applied through JMC only. Since it was their first case too. They referred it to us. We looked at our provisions and decided to issue a certificate to her," Bairwa said.
He also added that there is a provision where people from the transgender community can come forward and apply for a birth certificate.
“I told Noor as well as some other transgender activists that if anyone wishes to apply for such a certificate, they can. There is a provision. We want people to come forward, follow Shekhat’s example and apply for it.”
Shekhawat said that while hers was the first example, she did not want to be the last one to apply for the same. She said that the LGBTQ community were highly discriminated against. “There is a lot of discrimination against the transgender community. All we are left with is either sex work or visiting people at auspicious events.”
She added that the country has offered every citizen equal rights and she hopes that her step helps future generations.
‘Strangers congratulated me but…’: Shekhawat on response from friends and family
Speaking about her family and friends, Shekhawat said after she was issued the birth certificate, she spoke to a few friends to ask them if they read about it but to her dismay, the response wasn’t what she expected.
She said, “Strangers are congratulating me and calling me bold but when I spoke to my friends about it, they said, ‘You are very open and social. We will have to think twice before meeting you now.’”
When Shekhawat called her parents after three earthquakes jolted Rajasthan on Friday and asked how they were, her parents told her, ‘When people like you get born, what else will happen?’
As the news of Shekhawat receiving her certificate travelled, one of her aunts asked her mother to have a ’tiye ki baithak’ (rituals performed after death) for her.
