DHAKA: A religious decree declaring transgender marriage to be legal has been cautiously welcomed in Pakistan, but activists say attitudes still need to change.

The decree, or fatwa, was passed on Sunday by a group of clerics, the BBC publishes this report on Tuesday (June 28).

It said that according to Islam transgender people with ‘visible signs’ of being male or female may marry someone of the opposite sex.

But those with ‘visible signs of both genders’ may not marry, it said.

The 50 clerics, part of the little-known Tanzeem Ittehad-i-Ummat body based in Lahore, also said any act intended to ‘humiliate, insult or tease’ transgender individuals should be considered a crime under Islam.

The fatwa is not legally binding in any way.

‘We are glad that somebody’s talked about us too,’ transgender rights worker Almas Bobby told BBC Urdu.

‘By Sharia we already had the right (to marry), but unless measures are taken to remove the misconceptions about us in society, the condition of our community will not be changed.’

Another social worker for gender issues told BBC Urdu that it was a ‘good step’, but that issues would remain until transgender marriage was officially legitimized.

Qamar Nasim said that many police officers had charged people in transgender marriages because ‘due to a lack of knowledge... they consider it same-sex marriage’.

‘This practice can only be stopped when (the) government spread awareness about rights of a transgender person.’

BDST: 1731 HRS, JUN 28, 2016
RR