In India: Court recognizes Transgender People as a Third Gender

India's Supreme Court has somewhat made history. They are now recognizing transgender people as a third gender.

According to the BBC News, India has about two million transgender people. The common term used to describe the transgender community is hijra.

Here's more from the BBC

"Recognition of transgenders as a third gender is not a social or medical issue but a human rights issue," Justice KS Radhakrishnan, who headed the two-judge Supreme Court bench, said in his ruling on Tuesday.

"Transgenders are also citizens of India" and they must be "provided equal opportunity to grow", the court said.

"The spirit of the Constitution is to provide equal opportunity to every citizen to grow and attain their potential, irrespective of caste, religion or gender."

The judges asked the government to treat them in line with other minorities officially categorised as "socially and economically backward", to enable them to get quotas in jobs and education.

"We are quite thrilled by the judgement," Anita Shenoy, lawyer for the petitioner National Legal Services Authority (Nalsa), told the BBC.

I have a new clip of the ruling after the jump