NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- Indian election authorities Thursday granted what they called an independent identity to intersex and transsexuals in the country's voter lists.
Before, members of these groups -- loosely called eunuchs in Indian English -- were referred to as male or female in the voter rolls.
But now, they will have the choice to tick "O" -- for others -- when indicating their gender in voter forms, the Indian election commission said in a statement.
"Enumerators and booth-level officers (BLOs) shall be instructed to indicate the sex of eunuchs/transsexuals etc as 'O' if they so desire, while undertaking any house-to-house enumeration/verification of any application," a statement from election authorities said.
India, home to more than 1 billion people, has 714 million registered voters.
Intersexual people are seen as a marginalized community in India. Many end up begging on the streets, becoming prostitutes or earning their livelihood by dancing at celebrations.
In July, an Indian court delivered a landmark ruling legalizing gay sex between consenting partners in the country.
The July verdict meant the law -- Indian penal code section 377, which had previously criminalized consensual homosexual acts between adults -- was partly struck down but remains in place as far as forced homosexual acts are concerned.
It was not clear whether the ruling -- which was later challenged by an astrologer in India's highest court -- would eventually lead to legalization of gay marriages in the country.
is this right ???
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Vince Robertson " I Am A Gear In The Wheel Of KLOK!! I Fear Not My MORTALITY!!!"
In india its almost part of their culture, in their religion, er hindu i should say a lot of guys dress up as girls and get "married" to this one god. Its not such a big deal over there.
um i really dont agree with this but i mean it is inda. i just dont know why things have to be so difficult, if your a boy your a boy, if your a girl your a girl, but when i see people change their sex, it just disgusts me and i think that it is wrong.
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Jaquelynn Reuland
smile every minute of every day, you never know who may be falling in love with it. <3
um i really dont agree with this but i mean it is inda. i just dont know why things have to be so difficult, if your a boy your a boy, if your a girl your a girl, but when i see people change their sex, it just disgusts me and i think that it is wrong.
yea totally
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"May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't." -General George S. Patton
to say there is just boy and girl goes completely against what modern science says.
How? There is no third gender. Male. Female. Period.
But there is grey area. What if a man is undergoing a sex change and is currently taking female hormones and develops breasts and more feminine features? What is he then, having both male and female traits? A little bit of both right? Also, there have actually been cases of people with XXY chromosomes, and are born with genitals that have both male and female characteristics. So no, it is not as simple as male and female. And what's so WRONG with an "other" category?
to say there is just boy and girl goes completely against what modern science says.
How? There is no third gender. Male. Female. Period.
But there is grey area. What if a man is undergoing a sex change and is currently taking female hormones and develops breasts and more feminine features? What is he then, having both male and female traits? A little bit of both right? Also, there have actually been cases of people with XXY chromosomes, and are born with genitals that have both male and female characteristics. So no, it is not as simple as male and female. And what's so WRONG with an "other" category?
Regardless of if the male is taking female hormones or whatever, if he has a male part between his legs, he is a male, regardless of how he thinks or acts. And in relation to the XXY chromosome thing, they say that it is actually a male with a defect that occured during meiosis. And what is so wrong with an "other" category? The fact that there is nothing else besides man or women.
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"May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't." -General George S. Patton