Tamil Nadu government notifies glossary of terms to address LGBTQIA+ community

The glossary was released at the direction of Madras High Court

August 23, 2022 11:55 pm | Updated August 27, 2022 03:45 pm IST - CHENNAI

Representational image. File

Representational image. File | Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma

In a first in the country, the Tamil Nadu government has notified a glossary of terms in English and Tamil to be used in addressing members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual and others (LGBTQIA+) community.

The Department of Social Welfare and Women Empowerment notified the terms.

The notification gives a description for terms such as queer (paal pudhumaiyar), intersex (idaippaal), gender non-conforming person (paalina adaiyaalangaludan oththupogaathavar), transgender person (maruviya paalinam), gender non-binary person (paalina irunilaikku appaarpattavar), gender dysphoria (paalina manaulaichal), gender incongruence (paalina muranpaadu), gender fluidity (nilaiyatra paalina adaiyaalam), cisgender (migai paalinam) and pansexuality (anaithu paaleerpu) and also for expressions such as ‘coming out’ (velippaduthuthal), ‘ally (thozhamaiyar)’ and gender affirmation surgery (paalina urudhipaatu aruvai sigichai).

The glossary was released at the direction of the Madras High Court. “This is an effort to ensure that the LGBTQIA-related terms and words are used uniformly to address the issues related to them, both officially and legally,” an official said. The notification can be accessed in The Hindu portal at bit.ly/TNGovtLGBTQ.

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