Transgender people cannot change their gender, according to the court. On Friday, the Federal Shariah Court declared that transgender people could not choose their gender identity and call themselves man or woman based on their own preferences.
The judgment on petitions filed against the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2018, adopted by the National Assembly in 2018, was declared by a bench led by interim Chief Justice Syed Muhammad Anwar and Justice Khadim Hussain.
For the uninitiated, the act is a Pakistani law that aims to guarantee equal rights to transgender people and to protect their rights through legal recognition. The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act of Pakistan granted transgender people the ability to determine their gender identity as they felt it and to modify it on previously issued government papers.
However, the act was then challenged in a Shariah court by the JUI-F and others, who claimed it violated Shariat. They believed that “no law can be made in the country against the Quran and Sunnah.”
In its judgment, the Shariah court deemed Sections 2, 3, and 7 to be against Islamic beliefs. It went on to say that no one could be labeled transgender based on bodily characteristics or self-identity.
Transgender people cannot change their gender, according to the court orders.
After concluding the petitions against the measure, the court urged the government to ensure that transgender people receive all rights.
A transgender person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with the sex they were assigned at birth. Many experience gender dysphoria, which they may seek to alleviate through transitioning, often adopting a different name and set of pronouns in the process. They may pursue gender-affirming care such as hormone replacement therapy and various gender-affirming surgeries. Not all transgender people desire these treatments and others may be unable to access them for financial or medical reasons. Those who do desire to medically transition to another sex may identify as transsexual.
Also read: ‘Boycott Starbucks’ trends as new Ad on Transgenders rights divides the internet
