-The Indian Express The Rules, first released as a draft in July, inviting objections and suggestions, had been criticised by the LGBTQ community for “taking away’’ their dignity by mandating that a third person, such as a District Magistrate, would verify, and subsequently certify the gender of a person. Transgender persons who want to declare their desired sex will no longer have to go through a medical examination in order to do...

-The Times of India BENGALURU: Insurance regulator IRDAI on Friday came out with new rules that will have widespread ramifications for health insurers and the general public. Insurers henceforth cannot decline coverage to those who have used opioids or anti-depressants. Nor can they exclude those with a history of clinical depression, personality disorders, sociopathy, psychopathy, or neurodegenerative disorders. They cannot exclude kids suffering from development disorders such as Down’s syndrome, cerebral...

-The Telegraph The harassment at workplace act needs an upgrade to include men and transgenders in the MeToo conversation I have been sexually harassed and bullied by my boss. I was threatened I would lose my job if I didn’t comply — sounds like an excerpt from one of the hundreds of accounts of women that have been doing the rounds on social media? Well, it is a story of sexual harassment...

-The Hindu Says healthcare is denied due to stigma New Delhi: Justice Indu Malhotra, the lone woman judge on the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court hearing the fight against Section 377 of the IPC, made a strong case against criminalisation of homosexuality. Justice Malhotra, the junior-most member of the Bench of five led by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, said homosexuality is only a variation and not an aberration. But the prejudice and stigma...

Ensuring greater self-confidence, verdict has already brought the community one step closer to living with dignity Even as the Supreme Court has begun hearings on the legality of the decriminalisation of consensual gay sex, a report by the Centre for Health, Law, Ethics and Technology (CHLET) at the Jindal Global Law School has found that the 2009 Delhi High Court judgment has significantly enhanced the social acceptance and self-esteem of Lesbians,...