On Monday (September 26), the Senate will pass the bill (amendment) for intersex people (protection of rights) 2022, which aims to make changes to the existing law on the protection of the rights of transgender people in 2018.
The bill stipulated that intersex people would have the right to education, health care, work, and other opportunities enjoyed by normal people in society. The bill argued that the primary purpose of this law should have been the protection of the rights of “intersex people”.
An intersex person generally means a person with ambiguous genitalia and is also known as a hermaphrodite. The bill insisted that there were some provisions in the 2018 law that were completely contrary to the country’s traditions, religion, and even the constitution. Read more: Transgenders disapprove of objections to the rights law.
The amending law was designed to meet the needs of intersex people by eliminating all those sections of the 2018 law that violated the injunctions of Islam and the constitution.
The bill also elaborates that the term “transgender” was launched in 1965 by an American psychiatrist. It was essentially intended for individuals who had experienced sexual orientation against their sex at birth.
He argued that this was primarily a disordered state of mind in which a man might feel like a woman or a woman might feel like a man or sometimes even have “liquid gender perceptions” which have become “non-binary” gender. It was a psychological/psychiatric state of mind and could not be equated with “intersex”. Therefore, it is trying to change the title of the law in the bill (amendment) on intersex people (protection of rights), 2022.
The 2018 law defined the identity of the minority gender, prohibiting discrimination against them and, among other things, guaranteeing transgender people recognized as such and the right to self-perceived gender identity. The law provided for the issuance of identification to transgender people, provided that no establishment discriminates against transgender people in matters relating to employment, recruitment, promotion, and other related matters, and each establishment has a complaints procedure.
Section 3 (2) of the law stated that a person recognized as transgender under subsection (l) has the right to self-register under “self-perceived gender identity” with all government departments, including but not limited to the national database and Registration Authority (NADRA).
Also on the agenda of the Senate session is the bill to increase the salaries and allowances of the President of the Senate and the President of the National Assembly. This bill would be presented by Shibli Faraz, Dilawar Khan, and Naseebullah Bazai.
The Immigration Amendment Bill and Federal University of Urdu Amendment Bill would also be introduced in the session. During the session, the State Bank Amendment and Media Access for the Deaf would be approved.
There will also be a discussion of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) raids and harassment of journalists at the residence of Senator Saifullah Niazi.
