Unable to get married, to have children or even job security, possibly the unkindest cut of all has been dealt to the most disempowered of the LGBTQ community – the trans-community. A truly rainbow judgment had been delivered by the Supreme Court in 2014 in the NALSA case. The Court recognized the existence of the third gender and directed that all public authorities do the same. A slew of directions, including for providing of reservations in matters of public employment, were passed. But Parliament has recently enacted the inappropriately titled Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act. Section 3 of the Act prohibits discrimination against a Transgender person in matter of employment, education and accommodation. The stinge, however, lies in the tail. The Supreme Court had held that a transgender person can determine their gender for themselves, in a manner of self-identification. The Act on the other hand requires that this determination has to be made by way of an application to the District Magistrate who will issue a certificate. Imagine a situation where a person, facing tremendous societal opprobrium, comes out as a trans person only to have their quest for gender denied by a District Magistrate. One’s sexuality and gender it too private a matter to be outsourced to the local bureaucracy.