Trans activists want people to read law, denounce hate campaign

LAHORE: Transgender rights activists on Friday condemned and denounced propaganda around the law that ensures protection of their basic rights, and hate campaign against the community that they say has put their lives in danger. They also urged people, including the religious community, to read the law for a better understanding.
Addressing a press conference at the Lahore Press Club along with other community fellows, Jannat Ali, a trans community activist and a university lecturer, said now that the elections are close, the religious parties have decided to use a persecuted community as a commodity to prove themselves as more Muslims. This campaign, she said, has endangered their lives.
Commenting on the view that the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act 2018 allowed the community members to get married, Jannat said they had been asked by religious leaders in 2016 to get married and they had refused outright saying it could prove dangerous for them. About proposals to set up medical boards to determine the gender of a transperson seeking an identity card. Agencies