[16] In June 2021, a single judge bench of the Madras High Court on Monday issued far-reaching guidelines aimed at mainstreaming LGBTQIA+ persons - from prohibiting attempts to "medically cure" persons belonging to the community to seeking changes in school and university curricula and recommending awareness programmes for judicial officers, police and prison officials.

While these terms appear as simple interchanges for the word ‘Hijra’, which is commonly used throughout Northern parts of India, it, in reality, reflects deeper social, cultural, and historical context within the state.

The term ‘Aravani’ gained popularity and prominence, during a speech by a police officer, Mr. Ravi, at the Koovagam festival, which is marked as one of the largest transgender gatherings in the state.

[19] The suggestion of the term ‘Aravaani’ was not just a change in the name, but rather a strategic move to gain more state legitimacy by trying to align trans fluidity with identities found in Tamil mythology.

This mythological story is significant because it provides a religious and cultural context that acknowledges and even venerates gender fluidity, a crucial aspect of the transgender community's identity.

The Hijra differs from transgender communities in Tamil Nadu by facing enduring stigmatization and marginalization despite their historical and cultural significance in India.

Traditional Hijra social structures are also gathered around communal living spaces (Hamams), with gurus, who while providing a support system, also end up isolating them from most of society.

Many Aravaanis and Thirunagais still face socio-economic marginalization, with the fight for equal citizenship and rights being an ongoing battle that reflects a broader struggle within the transgender community in India.

In March 2004, advocate G.R Swaminathan appeared before the Madras High Court demanding voter identity cards for transgender people in Tamil Nadu.

Responding to the case, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) Government informed the court that only 11 transgender people in the state had come forward to register their names in the electoral roll.

The order favoured counseling as a means to deter families from disowning transgender people and making sure that such children get admitted in schools and colleges.

[26][27] In an additional effort to improve the education of transgender people, Tamil Nadu authorities issued an order in May 2008 to create a "third gender" option for admissions to government colleges.

[30][31] Swapna, incidentally, had successfully moved the Madras High Court in 2013 seeking permission to write the TNPSC Group II exam as a female candidate.

[32] Along with 21 other trans women, K. Prithika Yashini received appointment orders from Chennai City Police Commissioner Smith Saran in April 2017.

[33] Pursuant to a judgement of the Madras High Court on 6 November 2015, directions were given to the Tamil Nadu Uniformed Services Recruitment Board (TNUSRB) to appoint Yashini as a sub-inspector of police as she is "entitled to get the job".

[35] Based on the works of Gopi Shankar Madurai,[14] the Court took note of the rampant practice of compulsory medical interventions performed on intersex infants and children.

[36] In July 2019, Health Minister C. Vijayabaskar announced that guidelines complying with the court ruling and banning medical interventions on intersex infants would be drafted.

[48] Thirunar (Indigenous Gendervariants) meet in Koovagam, a village in Villupuram district, in the Tamil month of Chitrai (April/May) for an annual festival which takes place for fifteen days.

[49][50] In a monumental push in breaking taboos, the Tamil cable channel STAR Vijay started a talk show in 2008 hosted by a trans woman named Rose.

The American College in Madurai also introduced Maraikappatta Pakkangal ("Hidden Pages") as a course book for "Genderqueer and Intersex Human Rights studies" as part of the curriculum for Tamil and English department students in 2018.

[60][61] It is the first book on the LGBT community in the Tamil language, launched by Gopi Shankar Madurai and state BJP leader Vanathi Srinivasan in 2014.

[67] The government had initially planned to develop the policy by March 2023, but this was delayed as an eleven member drafting committee of LGBT persons was formed by the Social Welfare and Women Department on 21 June 2023.

[74] In June 2024, the Madras High Court directed the Tamil Nadu government to provide 1% horizontal reservations to the transgender community in education and employment on the basis of gender identity, and struck down a 2015 state government order from the BCC Department classifying transgender persons under Other Backward Class status as a caste identity if lacking a community certificate.

[75][76] The judgement, which granted a petition filed by Rakshika Raj, a transgender woman nurse belonging to a Scheduled Caste community who sought to overturn the GO and force the state government to provide horizontal reservation, ruled that the GO violated Articles 14, 15, 16, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India, as well as the National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India verdict.