Premium Essay

Transgender

In: English and Literature

Submitted By haura
Words 735
Pages 3
I was heading towards my university when I saw a group of people cursing and harassing Hermaphrodites group.Ladies dressed up in colorful outfits, wearing lipsticks and heavy jewellery, with a lot of kajal and makeup on. It was very heartbreaking for me to see how these people were being tortured physically, verbally and mentally. Moreover I could see no one around to stop this harsh treatment. "There are an estimated 500,000 ‘third-gender’ citizens in Pakistan, including cross-dressers, transsexuals, eunuchs, hermaphrodites, and transvestites" who see Karachi as their homeland. While they dream to live in their beloved homeland they are being pushed to the margins of city.
The main reason of their problems is that the society is not even ready to accept the third gender existing in our society. They are not considered as humans, they have no rights and they are not even protected. This is evident from the fact that they are not registered in NADRA and doesn’t even hold an identity card. Due to job and educational deprivation these people are pushed to dance, sing and beg on the streets of Karachi, even if they are educated and qualified as it is the only source of earning for them. However, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (2007) in Article 23 says that "every individual has a right to work, regardless of their sexual orientation."
Hermaphrodites are also excluded from the family. Labeled as useless creatures and taken as ridicule objects, without considering that they have hearts too and their presence matters. They live in small rented homes, always seated at the back hiding their faces, walking at the corner of the backstreets of Karachi. They are scared of standing out and speaking for themselves just because this community is being violated, dishonored and degraded on their existence, as a result they stay between the four walls.
They are

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