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As repression lifts, more Iranians change their sex
By Nazila Fathi
August 2, 2004
Ehran - Everything about Amir appears masculine: his broad chest, muscled arms,
the dark full beard and deep voice. But, in fact, Amir was a woman until four
years ago, when, at the age of 25, he underwent the first of a series of
operations that would change his life
.
Since then he has had 20 surgical procedures and expects another 4. And Amir,
who as a woman was married twice to men - his second husband helped with the
transition and remains a good friend - is now engaged to marry a woman.
"I love my life and I'm happy, as long as no one knows about my past identity,"
said Amir, who asked that his full name not be published. "No one has been more
helpful than the judge, who was a cleric and issued the permit for my
operation."
After decades of repression, the Islamic government is recognizing that some
people want to change their sex, and allowing them to have operations and
obtain new birth certificates.
Before the Islamic Revolution in 1979, there was no particular policy regarding
transsexuals. Iranians with the inclination, means and connections could obtain
the necessary medical treatment and new identity documents. The new religious
government, however, classed transsexuals and transvestites with gays and
lesbians, who were condemned by Islam and faced the punishment of lashing under
Iran's penal code.
But these days, Iran's Muslim clerics, who dominate the judiciary, are
considerably better informed about transsexuality. Some clerics now even
recommend sex-change operations to those who are troubled about their gender.
The issue was discussed at a conference in Tehran in June that drew officials
from other Persian Gulf countries.
One cleric, Muhammad Mehdi Kariminia, is writing his thesis on transsexuality
at the religious seminary of Qum.
"All the clerics and researchers at the seminary encouraged me to work on the
subject," he said in an interview. "They said that my research can help change
the social stigma attached to these people and clarify religious decrees on the
matter."
One early campaigner for transsexual rights is Maryam Hatoon Molkara, who was
formerly a man known as Fereydoon. Before the revolution, under the shah, he
had longed to become a woman but could not afford surgery. Furthermore, he
wanted religious guidance. In 1978, he wrote to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini,
who was to become the leader of the revolution but was still in exile,
explaining his situation.
The ayatollah replied that his case was different from that of a homosexual and
therefore he had his blessing.
However, the revolution intervened and men like himself or those who had
already changed their sex were harassed, even jailed and tortured. "They made
me stop wearing women's clothes, which I had worn for many years and was used
to," Ms. Molkara recalled. "It was like torture for me. They even made me take
hormones to look like a man.''
It took him eight years after the revolution, in 1986, to get government
permission to proceed with surgery. But he could not afford the surgery and did
not have it until 1997, when he underwent a sex-change operation in Bangkok.
The Iranian government covered the expenses. Four years ago, Ms. Molkara
established an organization to help those with gender-identity problems.
Co-founders include Ali Razini, head of the Special Court of Clergy, a branch
of the judiciary that only deals with clerics, and Zahra Shojai, Iran's vice
president for women's affairs. An Islamic philanthropic group known as the Imam
Khomeini Charity Foundation has agreed to provide loans equivalent to about
$1,200 to help pay for sex-change surgery.
To obtain legal permission for sex-change operations and new birth
certificates, applicants must provide medical proof of gender-identity
disorder. The process can take years.
It also involves considerable expense. In Tehran, the initial male-to-female
surgery runs about $4,000. So far, Amir has spent $12,000 on medical
procedures.
The people who pursue this route come from many different backgrounds.
Dr. Bahram Mir-djalali, one of Tehran's few sex-reassignment surgeons, said one
of his patients had been a member of the Revolutionary Guards who served five
years in the war with Iraq. His operation was paid for by a Muslim cleric he
had worked for as a secretary. After the surgery, the man-turned-woman
divorced, and then married the cleric.
"When she came to see me years later, she was wearing a chador," the doctor
recalled, referring to the black head-to-toe garb worn by religious women. "She
took off the chador, and there was no sign of the bearded man I had operated
on."
But many who cannot deal with the legal and financial obstacles to a surgical
solution have to deal with humiliation in their daily lives.
One 27-year-old man said he ran away from home at the age of 14 because he did
not dare tell his family of his urge to become a woman. He wants to be known as
Susan and wears women's clothes at home but only emerges dressed that way at
night. He says the constant need for secrecy has left him severely depressed,
and he has attempted suicide several times.
"I have suffered all my life,'' he said, constantly adjusting his long curly
hair to cover his sideburns. "People treat me as though I have come from Mars.
Women pull my hair and laugh at me on the street. Most men I am attracted to
reject me."
In a society where men enjoy a higher status than women, the stigma against any
man who wants to be a woman is especially strong.
"They compliment a girl who behaves and dresses like a man as a strong person,
but they look down at us and despise us," said Assal, who was disowned by her
father for having surgery to become a woman.
Dr. Mir-djalali said he had to fight on many fronts to help more than 200
patients who had consulted him in the 12 years he had performed sex-change
operations. Even if Iran's Muslim clerics are more understanding now of
transsexuals' needs, others lag behind.
"We have a problem even deciding at which hospital to do the surgery because
society considers these people deviant," he said. "Hospital officials have
reacted negatively because they say other patients do not like the looks of my
patients."
He said one patient's father pulled a knife on him in his office, and
threatened to kill him if he touched his son. "What we really need to help
these people,'' Dr. Mir-djalali said, "is a serious cultural campaign."
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