Pakistan's transgender people fight for equal rights (PRI)
Increasingly sidelined, Pakistan's transgender people are cut off from mainstream society, with many currently living as beggars and sex workers.
Once valued for their blessing and feared for their curse, transgender people are increasingly being sidelined in Pakistan. Many are cut off from mainstream society, currently living as beggars and sex workers.
There are no official statistics, but officials say that there are at least 50,000 openly transgender people scattered across Pakistan, according to community leaders. "We consider ourselves as women, and we want to live as women, but no one accepts us," Guru Zeni, a transgender person, told PRI's The World. "Everyone tells us that this is not right, and that we should live as men. But we cannot live as men. Because a spirit inside of us is feminine. And we didn’t' choose this. It's been this way since we were born."
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Complete article at PRI : http://bit.ly/ovtvcZ
