Rights of transgenders
Government-led measures, like official recognition on CNICs while welcome, do not equal societal acceptance
While the transgender community in Pakistan, in recent times, has been accorded certain rights, including the issuance of National Identity Cards, voting rights, and of late, even jobs in the government, the key issue remains of the Pakistani society accepting transgender people as equals. Transgenders who have been employed in government jobs, for example, have complained of still feeling ostracised, and that getting a respectable job does not equal societal acceptance. This is highlighted by the fact that there is an acute shortage of words in Pakistan to describe anybody who does not conform to what the philosopher Judith Butler refers to as the tyranny of heteronormalcy — a world with only two genders that must fit perfectly within two sexes. Our umbrella term, hijra, is used for transvestites, transmen, transwomen and eunuchs alike. A lack of vocabulary compels us to think that they are all the same. The word ‘shemale’, a derogatory term, is another one we employ to anyone whose gender identity we do not care to understand. When society takes on the job of forcibly ascribing identities to individuals who do not conform to them — when we ask transpeople ‘what are you really?’, for example — the action is akin to fitting a square peg in a round hole. Any variation in any of these categories brings the ire of an intolerant society. It is no surprise that prostitution and begging are sometimes the only means of employment available to transgenders in Pakistan.
Government-led measures, like official recognition on National Identity Cards while welcome, do not equal societal acceptance. Readers should ask themselves if they are ready to see transgender people as their bosses in offices; if they are ready to have them teach their children in schools; or have transvestites serve them in restaurants. If the answer is no, then that is where we ought to start addressing the problem. The ever-shrinking white on the Pakistani flag is for all minorities, and it is time we stop ignoring, and in some cases, persecuting, a significant part of it.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 26th, 2014.
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"Readers should ask themselves if they are ready to see transgender people as their bosses in offices"
Most of your readers, and most of the readers of any newspaper in the world will say no. Except maybe the readers of the Guardian.
Will the editorial board of the Tribune be willing to work under a TG managing editor? Will most employees of the Tribune accept a TG publisher?
One who preaches should be ready to practice what he preaches.