As part of their struggle for equal rights and to draw attention to prejudice against the group, hundreds of transgender activists and their allies demonstrated in Karachi on Sunday.
Carrying posters advocating for the rights of the transgender community, protesters yelled and sang.
Women, life, and liberty was a well-known rallying cry during the recent Iranian demonstrations organized by women.
Popular Pakistani classical dancer Sheema Kirmani remarked, “We should have equal rights regardless of our gender.”
Participants performed a symbolic funeral for transgender victims of abuse in addition to giving ferocious speeches and performing exciting dance routines.
Amnesty International reports that since October of last year, 18 transgender persons have died in Pakistan.
A significant Supreme Court decision in 2012 recognized transgender individuals as a “third gender,” legalizing their existence.
Through fought-for legislation in 2018, they were subsequently granted the right to vote, equal access to work and education, and the ability to specify their gender on the national identification card.
But some lawmakers and religious groups are now threatening that legislation.
According to Zarish Khanzadi, a trans woman who was there, “there was momentum for acceptance of transgender people, but religious parties made this Act part of their political goal as a way to acquire seats, undercutting the respect of our gender identity.”
In Pakistan, discrimination against transgender persons often takes the form of rape, murder, and other physical acts of violence.
The government this week banned “Joyland,” a Cannes prize-winning film that was also Pakistan’s submission for next year’s Oscars since it was “obviously repulsive to the standards of decency and morality” in the nation.
The national censorship board had already given the film the all-clear, and when the government requested a review, they did so once again.
