Pakistan Couple Jailed As Gender Switch Plans Unravel
A Pakistani woman who has undergone a sex change operation twice in the past 16 years in an attempt to become a man so she could marry her partner and avoid an arranged marriage, has been thrown in prison, as has her partner.
Shumail Raj married Shahzina Tariq and were arrested last week after the bride's father, hoping to annul the marriage, reportedly complained to authorities about the gender of the groom.
According to the BBC: "The High Court in the eastern city of Lahore ruled that Mr Raj had earlier lied to the court by saying he was a man. 'Neither Islam nor our law allows marriages of the same sex. This mistake cannot simply be overlooked,' Lahore High Court judge Khawaja Sharif told the couple. 'Why should a case be not registered against you for committing an unnatural offence and telling a lie?' he asked."
Raj claims that his sex change operations to become a man "were not carried out properly."
Raj and Tariq have been jailed separately and await trial, where they may be sentenced to life in prison, if convicted of an "unnatural offense" (aka homosexuality).
Said Tariq: "We're not homosexuals. Ours was a love marriage. It was the fear of forced marriage which compelled me to convince Shumail for marriage. I was fully aware of Shumail's physical condition."
Ah, Islam. What a beautiful, peaceful religion. How compassionate and merciful.
All this strum und drang over a post-op FTM transexual. Why no outrage over the fact that this poor woman was going to be SOLD in marriage to pay off an uncle's gambling debts!!!
This incident has definitely made me re-evaluate how I feel about the "T" in "GLBT". I have more respect now for what transsexuals go through than I did before. And I must say, the Pakistani FTM transsexual is probably the most courageous person I have ever seen.
I hope that this couple wins, or at the very least can escape Pakistan and live in a free country where they will be left alone.
Posted by: Jonathon | May 22, 2007 9:22:31 AM
I love how they throw homosexuals under the bus in the process...
"We're not homosexuals. Ours was a love marriage."
...and marginalize genuinely suffering transexuals.
Then again, it's not like they have a choice living in 1945 Berlin, I mean...Pakistan.
Posted by: Seangstm | May 22, 2007 10:46:21 AM
Berlin 1945? Try Pakistan 1145. It's only a matter of time before some group of Islamist psychopaths somewhere get their hands on enough nuclear devices to destroy us all. Allah be damned.
Posted by: Charlie | May 22, 2007 11:02:11 AM
Seangstm, I think that they were defending themselves against some of the charges levied against them and not necessarily "throw[ing] homosexuals under the bus."
They are being charged with being a same-sex couple, which is probably a capital offense in Pakistan. It certainly is elsewhere in the Muslim world, i.e., Iran.
Posted by: Jonathon | May 22, 2007 11:22:04 AM
So, does anyone else think this was a pretty stupid idea? I don't understand why someone would change sex simply to avoid an arranged marriage. It's one thing if a person genuinely needs to change sex, but doing so just to get out of an arranged marriage is just, well, stupid. Also, it seems that this couple didn't think their plan through. Did they really expect to live happily ever after as a male married couple in Pakistan? Obviously they shouldn't be punished for being a male couple, but what made them think no one would notice that 1/2 of the couple changed sex? I'd imagine that being transgendered is also a crime. Seriously, what the hell were they thinking?
Posted by: Dennis | May 22, 2007 1:39:38 PM
Dennis... re-read the article. I think that you misunderstood. Only one of the two is transgender. The "bride" is biologically female. The "groom" is a post-op FTM transsexual. The bride wants to marry the groom because otherwise she would be sold "in marriage" to pay off her uncle's gambling debts. Be sure and follow the link to the full BBC story.
Posted by: Jonathon | May 22, 2007 2:32:15 PM
religion
Whatever type same old story. Who needs it/ Not the 21st century.
Posted by: pacificoceanboy | May 22, 2007 3:06:17 PM
Shumail? That names seems a little too apt...
Posted by: kipp | May 22, 2007 3:33:29 PM
Hey U ugly ppl. Ask someone who lives in pakistan. Forced marriage. COuldnot she consult anyone else for that. Why she consulated this trans raj. Just think a bit. U gay lords. And odnt ever say a word again about Islam. U gay lords
Posted by: Something | Jul 4, 2007 1:05:16 PM
Who gets to decide whether homosexuality is legitimate? If the West has come to terms with homosexuality, it doesn't mean that the whole world has to join the bandwagon. It is sickening on the part of these "enlightened" westerners to shove their philosophies in the face of the world
Posted by: Whois2sayWhoisRight | Feb 15, 2009 5:40:21 PM
Who gets to decide whether homosexuality is legitimate? If the West has come to terms with homosexuality, it doesn't mean that the whole world has to join the bandwagon. It is sickening on the part of these "enlightened" westerners to shove their philosophies in the face of the world
Posted by: Whois2sayWhoisRight | Feb 15, 2009 6:26:44 PM
Just because one can change the external features, doesn't mean he/she has been transformed into a new gender. There was this woman who took hormones to look like a male externally but still had a uterus. She got herself pregnant and was expecting a child at the same time married to a woman. The media portrayed her as "the first man who became pregnant". This statement is just a self-deception. Ignoring the realities just to satisfy some urge.
I have seen so many men who look hideous as "woman". They only get an artificial vagina constructed but leave other features intact such as jaw bones, masculine eyebrow, thick masculine hands and feet and many other female characteristics like ovaries.
Then how can they claim sex-change is THE ultimate surgery and anybody who opts for it should be highly encouraged when only partial changes are made. That doesn't make it a complete transformation into woman hood. They might as well keep all their organs and allow their souls to be what they are.
Posted by: Whois2saywhoisRight | Feb 15, 2009 6:58:39 PM
WHOIS2SAYWHOISRIGHT, we get to decide because that's how a free-thinking, democratic world works. It's hardly "sickening" that we want people to be able to live with the person they love without fear of persecution, imprisonment or worse.
Posted by: altona | Feb 15, 2009 7:05:51 PM
DO NOT DASPARAGE THE NAME OF ALLAH THE VENGEFUL! YOU WILL ALL SUFFER FOR THE CRITICIZING OF HIS GREATNESS!
KILL THE HOMOS AND THEIR FOLLOWERS!
YOU HAVE NO WRITE TO CRITICIZING MUSLIM WAY OF LIFE!
Posted by: Samir | Oct 1, 2010 1:47:06 AM