Background - In 2014, the Supreme Court of India granted legal recognition to transgender individuals as a third gender. Up until this ruling, the marginalization and stigmatization associated with transgender identity had acted as a major mental health stressor and led transgender individuals to shy away from available government sponsored health and mental healthcare services. The lack of population specific data, training, and experience pertinent to these communities has crippled the health care professionals. This study aims to fill this gap and focuses on changes in the perceived societal perception towards the transgender community and their experience, access and perception of mental health care services.

Methods - A qualitative study was conducted with focus groups consisting of self-identified transgender individuals. The data was manually analyzed by thematic coding via inductive content analysis. Population specific characteristics and experiences were collected through self-reported questionnaires.

Results - There was deterioration in perceived societal perception, increased freedom of expression and living within the transgender community, and improved access but substandard quality of mental healthcare services. The major themes emerging as experiences of transgender community were sexual objectification by the society, unwelcoming hospital environment and lack of transgender health trained health care providers.

Discussion- This study is a narrative on how the perceived societal behavior acts as a major barrier to the transgender community in accessing health and mental health care services, shedding light on the challenges faced by the transgender community during their access. The results will help in evaluation, assessment and formation of transgender individuals’ protection and inclusion policies in the future.