Determining Gender Identity

Socio-Religious Controversies About the Trans Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2018 in Pakistan (A Case Study)

Abstract

A serious obstacle to realizing human rights is gender stereotypes; organizations like the United Nations, African Union, Council of Europe, etc. are struggling to eliminate this. The limelight bill of Pakistan, "Transgender Persons Act, 2018," was highly admired globally but faced controversies only after four years of its enactment. The act is not only cognizant of trans rights but also guarantees justice and equality on a humanitarian basis. The prolonged struggle of the trans community in the social and legal fields for gender recognition is appreciable. The term "self-perceived gender identity" is the root cause of controversy between trans social activists and religious people. As self-perceived gender identity does not involve a medical checkup, there is no way to counter-check if anybody deceptively pretends to have a gender identity that he or she has not perceived. Religious people argue about how to stop this intentional mischievousness that can open other wrong options that are not compatible with Islamic teaching and Pakistani culture. This question is still answerable to psychologists and scholars. Studies have highlighted that transgender identity is not only dependent on physical appearance and medical procedures. The suggested recommendations are substantive equality as mentioned under Article 25(3) of the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan, optimization in true execution, abstaining from any further delay, and accepting the need of the medical board to avoid further controversies. Through these recommendations, the trans community may win their basic human rights, for which they are still struggling.