Iran's Surprising Stance on Transsexualism

I came to my college campus a bit early so I explored its library and picked up a book titled "Please Select Your Gender" by Patricia Gherovici. Then I flipped to a random page and was mind blown by a passage that described Ayatollah Khomeini's (Iran's supreme leader's) stance on transsexualism. Here it is:

"Is the current conspicuousness of gender modification a sign of freedom in a robust democracy, or is the trivialization of sex change a way to push it as a normalizing and prophylactic cure for gender deviance? A very puzzling situation is presented by Iran, a country in which homosexuality carries the death penalty and where women have very limited rights, but in which the government fully supports sex change operations. In a progressive move more than 40 years ago,  the Ayatollah Khomenei wrote in support of transsexuality and ruled that sex change operations were allowed, a position that has been reconfirmed by Iran's current spiritual leader. Khomenei argued that 'if somebody wants to undergo a sex change because he feels trapped in the wrong body, he has the right to get rid of his body and transform into the other sex, and he is also entitled to new identification documents, in order to put an end to his plight.' Since the 1990s, the number of sex change surgeries performed in Iran has surpassed the number performed in Europe (the estimation is that the number of transgender operations performed in Iran is over seven times the number of such operations in Europe.) According to Dr. Mirjalali, Iran's leading sex change surgeon , a European surgeon performs an average of 40 sex reassignment surgeries in a decade; he performed over 300 between 1993 and 2005." 

So what explains this awesome phenomenon? Did the Ayatollah have personal ties with a transgender person? Does Iranian history support gender variance but not sexual variance? Who knows. I am mind blown.

Gender Dysphoria

I want to take some time to step back from politics and go off on a tangent. I've written a few recent posts on transgender issues and think they're really important. I'm also really interested in mental health issues surrounding transsexualism. So, I'm gonna halt my political rhetoric and take some time to talk about gender identity disorder (GID) and gender dysphoria. GID and gender dysphoria are practically the same thing: GID is a conflict between a person's physical gender and the gender he or she identifies as; gender dysphoria is the term used to describe that specific conflict.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th Edition), also known as the DSM-5, serves as a universal authority for psychiatric diagnosis. It controversially classifies GID/gender dysphoria as a mental disorder. It specifically notes that the GID must continue for at least six months in a patient. It lists various direct characteristics of GID: cross dressing, playing with toys traditionally used by the other sex, etc. However, it fails to list indirect characteristics of GID. I found a really cool blog post that complements the DSM-5's controversial classification very well. I highly recommend reading it.

Anyways, that's all for today. Just wanted to make some personal commentary on transgender issues and direct you to a great article. Until next time!

Hillary Swank plays a female-to-male transgender in a 90's production called "Boys Don't Cry".

Peruvian Politics: Homosexuality

On New Year's Eve I was talking to a good friend of mine about his travels abroad in Uganda, Copenhagen and Amsterdam. Soon, he'll be living in Buenos Aires and come late July he'll fly to Lima, Peru to hike the Inca Trail. That's when we decided that it'd be an awesome idea if I came along. Now I'm finding myself scratching together a diverse itinerary that includes Incan ruins, the famed trek to Machu Picchu, a beautiful monastery, the celebrated Andean Explorer train ride, and Lake Titicaca. Should be good. But after piecing together plane rides and hostel prices in a haze of ecstasy I experienced a mini heart attack over the state of LGBT politics in Peru. A few months ago I planned on going to Jamaica to coach track and field for a few weeks, but the country turns out to be a cauldron of LGBT hatred. So I quickly Wikipediaed Peruvian politics and was satisfied with what I found. Peru is relatiely progressive when it comes to LGBT rights in Latin America. The key word is relatively. Here are some bullet points that summarize my findings:

• same-sex sexual activity among adults is legal
• in 2009 the Supreme Court of Peru ruled that homosexuality was no impediment to joining the armed forces (way ahead of America) 
• homosexuality can be used as grounds for separation or divorce
• however, society's attitudes towards homosexuals are generally hostile and influenced by the Catholic Church (our current Pope is more progressive though.. should be interesting) 
• in 2010 a bill was introduced to the Peruvian parliament that would recognize same-sex unions
• in 2011 the bill died in Judiciary Committee because some members believed it would have to change the Constitution in order to be law
• the winner of the 2011 general election says he opposes same-sex unions
• in August 2010 a poll showed that 23.1% of Peruvians approve of same-sex unions, with a majority coming from Lima, the capital, or from the youth population
• little to almost no research has been done with the state of transgender politics in Peru

Overall, the findings produce a mixed bag of thoughts. On the one hand, same sex activity is legal, but on the other, gays still face many impediments that non-gays do not. The 2002 Pride Parade in Lima resulted in demonstrators being taunted and attacked and I think it'll still be a while before the government legally recognizes homosexuality. However, it's promising to know that 23% of the population approves of homosexuality. It seems like a small number but the fact that a majority of that 23% comes from a big urban area means that education probably has a lot to do with Peru's stance on LGBT rights. People in Lima are more educated than those in rural populations. It's time to start spreading the word to countryfolk.