Iran Allows Sex-Change Operations

[Emit]

I was reading from an Iranian news source, came across this recent linked article, and was struck by the last sentence about Iran's approach toward transgender people. I had no idea this was the case.

Gay Iranians have hidden lives
Published: Sept. 29, 2007 at 10:02 PM

TEHRAN, Sept. 29 (UPI) -- Gay Iranians simply hope to be left alone in a country where homosexuality can be punished by death, The New York Times reported Saturday.

“You can have a secret gay life as long you don’t become an activist and start demanding rights,” a Tehran resident named Reza, who did not want his full name used, told the newspaper.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, speaking at Columbia University in New York this week, provoked laughter in the audience when he asserted there are no homosexuals in Iran. ... While Iran may be tough on homosexuality, the country is comparatively gentle toward transgender people, regarding them as sick. The government encourages sex-change operations.

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2007/09/29/gay_iranians_have_hidden_lives/2547/



More info:

Iran Allows Sex-Change Operations
Iran is a curious country: it's ruled by conservative Islamic values and religious beliefs, but in some ways and at some times it appears almost liberal in comparison to other Muslim nations - and even when compared to America's Christian Right. Currently, they have not only allowed sex change operations, they are paying for them

The New York Times reports:

After decades of repression, the Islamic government is recognizing that some people want to change their sex, and allowing them to have operations and obtain new birth certificates. ... (T)hese days, Iran's Muslim clerics, who dominate the judiciary, are considerably better informed about transsexuality. Some clerics now even recommend sex-change operations to those who are troubled about their gender. The issue was discussed at a conference in Tehran in June that drew officials from other Persian Gulf countries.

One cleric, Muhammad Mehdi Kariminia, is writing his thesis on transsexuality at the religious seminary of Qum. "All the clerics and researchers at the seminary encouraged me to work on the subject," he said in an interview. "They said that my research can help change the social stigma attached to these people and clarify religious decrees on the matter.

People who can’t get the operations still suffer, and there is the problem that women have a lower status in society so those with the desire are looked down upon for that reason. The situation is by no means perfect — but can you imagine something like this happening in the context of America’s Christian Right? Qum is the center of Iranian theology and is dominated by very conservative clerics. If a thesis comes out of there, it must have at least the tacit approval of the highest levels of Iran’s religious orthodoxy. Can you imagine something like this coming from the Vatican or the Christian Coalition?
~snip~

http://atheism.about.com/b/a/102969.htm


edit typo

[scarletwoman]

1. Fascinating. Thanks for posting -- I love learning something new! k&r (nt)

[pnwmom]

2. This isn't about being open-minded.

This is about being so horrified about gay people, that it is preferable to change genders if you insist on being attracted to people of your birth gender.

[ConsAreLiars]

4. It's hard to tell if you bigotry against gays is more or less extreme than your bias against Iran.

You suggestion that TG people are just trying to legalize and legitimize their attraction to the same gender is both utterly ignorant and abhorrent. And your simple-minded black-and-white assumption that the Islamic scholars in Iran are just as simple-minded and bigoted as you show yourself to be, well, reality isn't as as simple as you imagine.

[pnwmom]

5. Stuff it. I was referring to the attitude of the authorities, not to TG people.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/world/middleeast/30gays.html

SNIP

But Iran has also taken the unusual step of encouraging sex change operations for those with homosexual tendencies. While religious authorities here view homosexuality a clear sin, transsexuals are considered ill and in need of the help that such an operation can provide.

Muhammad Mehdi Kariminia, a midranking cleric and university professor at Mam Khomeini University in Qum, who wrote his doctoral thesis on transsexuals in Iran, said Muslim clerics could not show leniency or forgiveness for homosexuals because the Koran explicitly labels sodomy sinful.

SNIP

Reza said he knew of gay men who had changed their sex so that they could be recognized by the government as transsexual and mingle with men more easily.

SNIP


__________

But yes, as the daughter of a gay man, I am "biased" against Iran and any other country that puts teenagers to death for being gay. (Same link.)

[Bluebear]

3. Don't be impressed. They would rather have transsexuals than gays.

Ahmadinejad is providing grants for gender reassignment surgery or for enforced male hormone "therapy" to get rid of 'the gay'.

And if that doesn't work, they execute them.

[provis99]

6. yeah, no kidding

forcing a gay guy to get a sex change operation is just Iran's way of wiping out gay people. Iran is trying to put a positive spin on a horrifying abuse of human rights.

[Emit]

7. Who said I was impressed?n/t

[Kelly Rupert]

8. This is hardly progressive of them.

The article is right--I couldn't imagine America's Christian Right pushing for homosexuals to undergo gender-reassignment surgery so they're no longer so offensive.