Out of the many aspects which make the upcoming general elections unique, one is the aspect of transgenders being granted the space to run for any office in the country. While this development is huge in itself and the government must be commended for its efforts, this development has started this debate around real and fake transgenders.

The entire debate around fake and real transgenders began when the political party, PTI-Gulalai, decided to give party tickets to four people of the transgender community

Due to the obvious rivalry between PTI and PTI-G, many decided to mock this move by trying to label people as “real” or “fake” transgenders

Instead of understanding how big the step is to make the society more inclusive, a debate was opened on how fake or real these transgenders are.

The TV host Mubasher Lucman was especially critical of the move by PTI-Gulalai and his choice of words and blatant refusal to accept someone as transgender based on his own limited knowledge

“We strongly condemn journalist Mubasher Lucman for publicly discrediting transgender political candidates on his show “Khara Sach” for not being transgender in the first place and faking their identity, this kind of journalism is bullshit reporting and Samaa TVshould be ashamed of itself for hiring such a transphobic, sexist and misogynist journalist in the first place.

As per the recently passed, “Transgender Persons (Persons of Rights) 2017” (Read below), by the National Assembly of Pakistan there remains no legal ambiguity over the definition of who’s a “transgender person”, so if the state has no problem then why is this shrewd person passing his ignorant and sickening views about a very marginalized community by openly discriminating against them in the name of journalism and free speech?

This isn’t “freedom of speech”, it’s “hate speech” and we as responsible citizens of this nation should condemn it in every possible way imaginable!”, said the Facebook page Queeristan which is an LGBTQ community platform for Pakistan.

The statement by Mubasher Lucman was made in complete ignorance of a recent development: the recently passed Trans Rights Bill 2018

An earlier version of the bill while granting transgenders the right to a CNIC wanted medical examinations to ensure that “true” transgenders are granted this identity card. However trans activists soon brought this up and pointed out that it should be the right of the transgenders to self-identify because this will further marginalize a community which is already marginalized in the society.

The debate was again brought up in Hamza Ali Abbasi’s show on Bol TV

On his show was invited Almas Bobby – a trans rights activist, who was of the opinion that only “true” transgenders should be granted an identity card. She even went ahead to call transgenders without a castration as fake transgenders – once again alienating the population and creating misunderstandings for a larger chunk of the population which already fails to understand their problems and recognize them as equal human beings.

Trans Rights activist, Kami Sid, wrote an open letter to Almas Bobby addressing the issue

Dear Almas Bobby Ji,

With due respect, what you couldn’t say on National Television let us (Transgender community of Pakistan) say that to open to you.
What you are referring to as True Khawajasira’s are those who have gone through castration (Commonly known as Nirban). It is true that getting castrated and further having sex reassignment surgery is a protocol adopted by international medical associates linked with Transgenders, but it is also true that a lot do not want to or cannot get operated because of various reasons.
You are a senior person and we truly respect you for what you are but if you call yourself a True Khawajasira (True Transgender ) just because you have gone through an operation than kindly do not forget that once you were also a fake Transgender.
Pakistan is evolving slowly when it comes to medical treatment of Transgenders. You have mentioned that so-called fake Transgenders are going to Sri Lanka, Nepal etc, then you should also be knowing that a Transgender protection bill has been passed for the first time in the history of Pakistan because of these so-called fake Transgender activists. Today Transgender community is becoming visible because of these so-called fake Transgender people and today Transgender community is availing better medical facilities because of these so-called fake Transgenders rights fighters.
Please, for God sake don’t confuse the world anymore. We have fought really hard up till now. If you cannot encourage us at least don’t discourage us.
Try to understand what the term Transgender means. It’s a slow process of transitioning from one gender to another, and the speed varies from person to person circumstances.
We can pray that people like you get to know the real meaning of humanity and help people of their own kind.
We never stopped and we will never stop.
Proud to be Transgenders and proud to be what we are.

We spoke with Kami Sid about the controversy over labelling someone real or fake and she shared her opinion saying that gender, as a concept has evolved beyond what is between someone’s legs now:

“Gender is in your head and sex is between your legs. When will our discussions not be based on what’s between our legs? Don’t these people realize how they will damage the entire struggle of the trans community with such statements? I would urge them to not indulge in such a debate and let this be a personal choice of the individual. Let’s not confuse the population anymore.”

It is highly shameful that people without understanding the actual issues of transgenders are propagating such views

If we take the statement of Almas Bobby then castration is the only criteria for being a transgender. By that criterion alone, you will isolate a huge chunk of the trans population because not everyone avails this option. And let me remind you that making this decision involves the mental trauma, the affordability of the procedure and the risk of having to live with that decision for the rest of your life. It is not as simple as it looks.

If these facilities were provided by the state, and the conditions these people lived in were up to the mark then having such expectations can be considered but at this point, it is just plain inhumane. At the same time, those “normal” individuals who think that they have the right to dismiss someone purely because they believe so, know that living a life like the one transgenders lead here is not easy. So make informed statements because you are feeding the entire population a narrative which they will carry for maybe the rest of their lives.

At a time when we have finally been making strides to be a bit more inclusive for the trans community in Pakistan a statement trying to label “real” and “fake” is extremely pathetic

Saying that there are people who just out of the blue decide to be transgenders but are not actually transgenders is very demeaning not to forget you don’t have a right to claim someone is a “real” transgender or not, most especially if you’re not a member of the community, Imagine having to get yourself medically tested in order to get an identity card.

And remember, according to the law, “…a Transgender Man, Transgender Woman, Khawaja Sira or any person whose gender identity and/or gender expression differs from the social norms and cultural expectations based on the sex they were assigned at the time of their birth.” This is very much based on self-identification and no one should be able to take this right away from anyone.

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cover image via newspakistan.tv