A reader sent along this item some weeks ago, and I didn’t use it at the time because I couldn’t think of an angle to approach it from . I still can’t. But it’s interesting, nonetheless.
Everything about Amir appears masculine: his broad chest, muscled arms, 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 operations and expects four more. 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.
[…]
After decades of repression, Iran’s Islamic government is recognizing people with sexual-identity disorders and allowing them to have sex-change operations and obtain new birth certificates.
Before the 1979 Islamic revolution, 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 sex. The issue was discussed at a conference in Tehran in June that drew officials from other Gulf countries.
One cleric, Muhammad Mehdi Kariminia, is writing his thesis at the religious seminary of Qom on transsexuality.
“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 part of me hopes that this may be a sign of more liberal attitudes towards women in this most repressive of Islamic societies… but another wonders if it isn’t just a clever ploy to confuse the living hell out of everyone.