India creates third gender for voters

NEW DELHI, Nov. 13 (UPI) -- Indian election authorities have granted what they called an independent identity to gays and transsexuals -- a third gender -- on the country's voter lists.

Members of these groups were referred to as male or female on the voter rolls in the past. Now they will have the choice to pick "O" -- for others -- when indicating their gender on voter forms, the Indian election commission said in a statement Thursday.

India, home to more than 1 billion people, has 714 million registered voters.

In July, an Indian court delivered a landmark ruling legalizing gay sex between consenting partners in the country.