"My family thinks I'm disgusting"

Transgenders suffer a life of abandon, living with the realisation that they are unaccepted everywhere they go.

Maati Tv October 25, 2011
Transgenders are often forced to live under miserable conditions in Pakistan. Society does not accept them and they live as outcasts who are discriminated against in every field of life. This treatment extends not only to strangers but the family of transgenders too, who disown them and may even beat them till they are forced to leave their homes. 

In this video we learn of the humiliation they are regularly made to suffer. People not only mock and ridicule them, they do not allow transgenders to study alongside them in school. Many eunuchs are, thus, forced to live a life of begging, dancing and entertaining - this is their livelihood. It is evident that they are viewed as the lowest rung of society, and people only associate them with either shame or jokes.

Even though the Supreme Court has stated that 80,000 transgenders have been registered, there are still many who are unregistered. The government has been instructed to provide them with education and money, however, the transgenders interviewed have received nothing.

Moreover, religious scholars of Islam, Christianity and Sikhism have stated that their respective religions preach only equality towards all people. Yet, transgenders live a life of suppression, mockery and degradation in Pakistan. They are destined to eternal  abandonment and loneliness where they have to suffer the realisation that they are unaccepted everywhere they go.

This video originally appeared here
WRITTEN BY:
Maati Tv A community journalism website that aims to provide an alternative voice for people.
The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

COMMENTS (35)

mariyum | 12 years ago | Reply Eunuchs deserve equal rights and sympathy because it is clearly not their fault for who they are or for what they are like.
Kay | 12 years ago | Reply Right. So here we have it. As a person, I am directly in contact with such humans, as well as victims of abuse, rape, domestic violence and tragedy. All I have learned is this: We are all the same, little living things that come with an expiry date. I have seen cruelty. I have opposed it. I have limitations: physical ones, because I am a woman, but I would take a cane to the perpetrators if I had a stronger arm, I swear...I am tired of the flippant and almost apathetic attitude of most people in this country. I cannot believe the number of times I have seen people idly watch as someone was being beaten by the police or a mob, or an animal was being tortured, or seeing children get boxed around, or accident victims bleeding and traumatized being filmed on camera phones while the rest gathered in a beholding crowd. Rare is the good Samaritan in Pakistan. Raise your children to insist on being the better person. Male or female, teach them to help. Stop fearing repurcussions or society or simply being lazy and hard hearted. On a micro-scale, make sure you do your part. Don't wait for someone else to 'take care of it'. And count your blessings: you never know when God may send a trial your way...and God forbid you're that victim being watched in the middle of the road, bleeding away.
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