A small victory for Pakistan's transgenders
The nation's hijra community -- mostly eunuchs and hermaphrodites -- has long lived on the margins in the Muslim nation, barely tolerated and more often abused. A new ruling gives its members some rights.
By Mark Magnier
March 3, 2010
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-pakistan-transgender3-2010mar03,0,223161.story (http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-pakistan-transgender3-2010mar03,0,223161.story)
Reporting from Rawalpindi, Pakistan - Wearing a red knit bonnet, matching lipstick and a shawl over her large shoulders and muscular forearms, Nanni gently sought to clear up some confusion as the call to prayer sounded from a nearby mosque.
"I'm a 'she-male,' " said Nanni, a kind of den mother for a dozen or so fellow hijra, or transgender people, in a rundown neighborhood of Rawalpindi. "We all are."