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Malaysia’s court ruling to decriminalizes transgen
14 November 2014 – The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) today welcomed the recent judgment by the Court of Appeal of Malaysia that declared unconstitutional the criminalization of Muslim transgender women for cross-dressing.
Details here (Link)
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2 Replies
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Nice to see decriminalisation. To much lately countries have been outlawing gender diversity…
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There is a dark side to the decriminalization of transgender Muslims. According to some authors the Qur’an explicitly recognises that there are some people who are neither male nor female. Verses 42:49-42:50 are translated by these authors as: “To God belongs the dominion over the heavens and the earth. It creates what it wills. It prepares for whom it wills females, and it prepares for whom it wills males. Or it marries together the males and the females, and it makes those whom it wills to be ineffectual (barren)”.
Even though the word “homosexuality” does not exist in the Qur’an. It is widely believed in Muslim societies that homosexuality is forbidden in Islam. This perception is also embodied in Muslim laws to the extent that in some countries homosexuality is a crime punishable by death (by stoning).
The growing acceptance of sex change surgery in Muslim societies whilst at the same time retaining the belief that being gay or lesbian is punishable by death inevitably produces some strange outcomes.
Read this article from the BBC about “diagnosed transexuals” in Iran.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7259057.stmIt is hard to see that the current situation in these countries is “healthy”. They have so far to go before their citizens share the sexual and gender freedom that we enjoy.
