In Iran: Homosexuals Put to Death, But Transsexuals are Okay
A strangely inconsistent policy.
It is becoming widely known that the Koran condemns homosexuality, and in many Islamic countries, gays and lesbians are put to death as the result of the scripture. The treatment of transgender individuals in these countries varies widely, but Iran, known in the US primarily for its unstable leader and hard line religious conservatism, has a seemingly
strangely inconsistent policy. After the Ayotallah Khomeini led the revolution in 1979, Khomeini issued a fatwa that said gender identity disorder was actually a medical condition, and that
transgender individuals
should be treated with gender reassignment surgery.
The current president of Iran recently reported that there were no homosexuals in his country during his recent visit to New York. What he didn’t disclose was the fact that the country of Iran has the 2nd highest rate of sex change operations after Thailand for individuals “suffering” from gender identity disorder. Not only that, but the government of Iran also offers $5,000 to each transgendered individual to undergo the operation.
The statement from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad about no homosexuals existing in his country might be considered political propaganda, but it is also a possibility that many gays and lesbians in Iran elect to undergo gender reassignment surgery in order to avoid being arrested and put to death for homosexuality. Iran’s position on gender identity disorder may look progressive to some Western minds, but the statement by the President concerning homosexual orientation, something that seems to exist everywhere else on the globe, is either lying, boasting or willful ignorance.
In other Islamic countries such as Afghanistan, currently under Taliban rule, men accused of sodomy often have heavy walls collapsed upon them. If the victim of the execution attempt manages to survive their injuries, they are allowed to go free. Pakistan, another Islamic country, punishes homosexual relationships by death, but the laws against such acts are rarely enforced and are more often used as blackmail tactic against citizens.
Iran’s treatment of transgender individuals may be an improvement over the current treatment transgender individuals receive in other Islamic and Non-Islamic countries, but the practice of punishing homosexual behavior by death is in any case a barbaric treatment of individuals. The free sex change operations are indeed an unlikely benefit to some, but it is also likely that many homosexuals choose to deny their true inclinations in order to avoid persecution by the police.
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User Comments
bruce
On August 8, 2008 at 2:22 am
However some trans people would rather not put themselves under the knife and risk possible complications, disfigurement and lose of function.
Forcing someone to undergo surgery because of their gender identity or sexual orientation is not a benefit. It is a regime trying to maintain an oppressive binary gender structure upon which their rule is based.
Brandhi
On March 27, 2009 at 1:46 pm
i am 25 yr. old transgender and muslim. I wish the gov. here in the U.S. would allow me medical funding for me to undergo sex-change surgery. The truth of the matter is that i want to live a “normal womens” life, i am a sincere person and want to marry and ‘have’ children and be a good wife and mother. I would like to do ‘normal’ women things. And here in the U.S., society treats me like a freak of nature. I have trouble attaining a job to fund my own surgery because people think i am a women, then i show an I.D. that states a male name and says i am male, and this always causes an issue for me, and also violates my private medical information, because i am a women who just happens to be born male, and this obviously is a birth defect. i did not choose to be born a male. and i did not become a women. I AM a women! – who deserves the right to medical treatment to remove the male organs and form me as a normal female. This is not a cosmetic issue. I am diagnosed ‘transsexual’ and my docter’s even recomend me for transsexual surgery. however i am poor and on goverment assistence, but insurance does not consider this a birth defect, or feel that it should be done in that regard, and as i said before, thank God for the Islamic Republic of Iran, to have a government that would support and believe in this condition in this light. I wish U.S. were this “REAL’ in this matter, and fair, to elleviate the sufferings of the transgender person. And as for anyone who undergoes such a surgery to escape death or punishment, but trully does NOT feel they are a women, then this person obviously was not a person with this medical condition.
Leonardo davinci Evans
On August 19, 2009 at 12:41 pm
People all over the world are working so that all people can be themselves and be free.
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