Gay pakistan

Pakistan

Same-sex relations are banned in Pakistan under Section 377, a colonial-era penal provision that prescribes two years to life imprisonment, fines, or both for “carnal intercourse against the arrange of nature.” Laws against “obscene acts” and “unnatural offenses” contribute to widespread antipathy toward womxn loving womxn, gay, and multi-attracted people in Pakistan, although these are rarely enforced.

In contrast, transgender people, locally known as khawaja sara, are seen in a more complex way, both as bearers of good fortune and as outcasts. Consequently, their human rights are protected to a somewhat greater degree. The Transsexual Person (Protection of Rights) Act of 2018 allows anyone whose gender does not conform to their sex assigned at birth to change their legal gender based on self-determination. The operate further enshrines protection from discrimination in housing, employment, voting, and education. Nevertheless, social exclusion, harassment, and stigmatization of khawaja sira, non-binary, intersex, and gender nonconforming Pakistanis persist despite these legal protections. In 2023, the Federal Shariat Court of Pakistan struck down the operative provisions of this la

Pakistan: How has COVID impacted the LGBT+ community?

The coronavirus pandemic has made being LGBT+ in Pakistan significantly more difficult, in a country where those communities already face numerous challenges, including systemic oppression, social stigma and a legal ban on homosexual acts.

The colonial British government criminalized queer activities in India in 1860, establishing them as crimes that can result in life imprisonment or even death by stoning. Though these laws are seldom enforced by officials, as male lover and queer activities remain largely clandestine, those identifying as LGBT+ rarely come out to their families.

When family members do approach out or are found out to be queer, they deal with threats of violence and disownment. This is why some LGBT+ Pakistanis often move out of their family homes to pursue more freedom to explore their identity and sexuality. However, during the pandemic, exploration and self-rule have become increasingly perilous for some.

Usman, 32, who works for a multinational company in Abbottabad, a city slightly north of the capital, Islamabad, told DW that during the pandemic he has only managed to connect his long-distance boyfriend once

Muhammad’s story

My life, my choice

My name is Muhammad, I am from the Punjab side of Pakistan, shut to Lahore and this is my story.

Over there, everything is scary for an LGBTQI person appreciate me. If you ever go outside, your family is unsure whether you’ll come back. It was a very hard experience because, back home, they don’t understand that my life is my choice.

I realised I was queer when I was 18 years old. My family caught me at dwelling with someone and my brother beat me two or three times. My mom told me it wouldn’t happen again, but the last time my brother caught me, he said he’d kill me. I ran away to Karachi.

My initial plan was to go to Dubai, but people advised me not to. With facilitate from my friend I arrived in London in 2005 on a six-month visa. I overstayed and eventually applied to the Home Office for the right to remain on a human rights basis.

Life in the UK

In 2008, three years after I’d arrived in the UK, some people from my country attacked me and tried to kill me. I went to a small takeaway with a friend, and suddenly two Pakistani men started to call me f***** gay. Before I knew what was happening, one of the men took an iron cooking pan and hit me in th

“Homosexuality is very frequent in Pakistan,” Sinaan tells me as the Muslim ring to prayer rings out along the streets of Islamabad. “But homosexuality is mostly done by straight guys.”

A professor, Sinaan asked Daily Xtra to convert his name to protect his shelter and job security.

Pakistan is a planet of contrasts: a land of fundamentalist Islam, Osama bin Laden’s hideout, and terrorist attacks, where children are gunned down going to school or accused of blasphemy and sentenced to death. Yet it’s also a land where secular, liberal, juvenile adults socialize by drinking whisky and smoking weed, where you can spot used lesbian erotica or buy a dildo on the black market.

These two extremes are nowhere as evident as in the LGBT experience.

Pakistan is an extremely patriarchal, macho culture, with a strict understanding of gender expression and behaviour. Ironically, it’s that culture that enables same-sex relationships to flourish, as long as the participants are discreet.

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