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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan \u2014 For generations, they have been a familiar sight in Pakistan\u2019s urban landscape \u2014 tall figures in alluring costumes and makeup, selling flowers on street corners or reaching out manicured hands for a few rupees. They are often hired to perform dances at festivals, clubs and all-male parties.<\/p>\n
But although transgender people, known in Urdu as \u201ckhwaja sira\u201d or \u201cthird gender,\u201d have inhabited this South Asian region since the era of Mogul dynasties and British colonial rule, they have remained at the margins of this conservative society, legally recognized and protected as a minority but subject to discrimination and sometimes physical attack.<\/p>\n
Suddenly, however, they have been thrust into the center of Pakistan\u2019s highly charged politics.<\/p>\n
This month, a groundbreaking Pakistani film called \u201cJoyland,\u201d which sympathetically portrays a romantic relationship between an unhappy married man and a transgender woman, was submitted as Pakistan\u2019s first-ever entry in the Academy Awards after winning a prize at the Cannes Film Festival and international attention for its young creator and director, Saim Sadiq.<\/p>\n
Just as \u201cJoyland\u201d was scheduled for release in Pakistani cinemas, though, a bombshell dropped. Several influential religious groups demanded that the film be banned, charging that it promoted homosexuality and spread decadent foreign values. A senator from the highly orthodox Jamaat-e-Islami party denounced it as containing \u201cobjectionable material.\u201d<\/p>\n
The board of censors at the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting originally approved the film\u2019s release, then banned it from being shown in many areas of the country. Now that decision has itself been reversed, and the movie has been approved for release in most regions. The only theater in the capital that had advertised the film abruptly canceled all showings for a week.<\/p>\n
Pakistan bans its 2023 Oscar entry, a trans love story, from cinemas<\/p>\n
At a rally earlier this month outside the National Press Club in Islamabad, about 100 members of Jamaat-e-Islami\u2019s student movement chanted slogans against \u201cforeign conspiracies.\u201d Muhammad Arif, 22, told a reporter that such movies are made \u201cwith an aim to promote sin in our society. It is a conspiracy of foreign powers to weaken us morally.\u201d<\/p>\n
Members of the student wing of Islamic political party Jamaat-e-Islami attend a protest of the movie \u201cJoyland\u201d after the ban on its release was lifted, in Karachi, Pakistan, on Nov. 18. (Shahzaib Akber\/EPA-EFE\/Shutterstock)
\nKhalis Saeed, 52, an engineer who had been shopping at a nearby market, came over and joined the protest, saying it was his duty as a Muslim. As a nation, he said, \u201cwe need a strong economy and defense, but we also need a strong moral character. Homosexuality is not permitted in Islam, and such films create unrest and weaken the values of Muslim youth.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leaders of Pakistan\u2019s well-organized transgender community quickly shot back, holding rallies in several cities including Karachi, a sprawling seaside metropolis that is home to an estimated 20,000 transgender people. They noted that the ban on \u201cJoyland\u201d coincided with international celebrations of Transgender Remembrance Day \u2014 and with news of the mass killing at an LGBTQ club in Colorado.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are real people, and we deserve to be treated like human beings, not just like someone you hire to dance in your living room or give money on the streets,\u201d said Bindiya Rana, who heads an advocacy group in Karachi called the Gender Interactive Alliance. \u201cSome people say we are bringing bad foreign influences into the society, but we have been here for a long time. They are just scared because we stand up for our rights.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are no sex scenes or kisses in \u201cJoyland.\u201d Performances of pulsing, sensual dance routines are shown, but even brief embraces are blurred, in keeping with Pakistan\u2019s moral norms as well as government regulations. It is low-key and slow-paced, with none of the high-decibel shootouts, evil characters or passionate fantasies of popular Pakistani films.<\/p>\n
But the film is disturbing in a more subtle and subversive way. Set in a drab, claustrophobic, family compound in Lahore, crammed with noisy children and nosy relatives, it is instantly recognizable to Pakistani audiences. Its main character, frustrated at work and home, exudes a familiar, quiet desperation. The soundtrack is melancholy and the lighting dim.<\/p>\n
As the man is drawn closer to his new boss, a transgender dancer and stage manager, they share moments of confusion, guilt, sorrow and tenderness \u2014 mostly unspoken. When the film reaches its tragic denouement, there are no recriminations or fights, only a sense of sadness and impossible longing that challenges long-held stereotypes and taboos in Pakistani society.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not what audiences in Pakistan are used to seeing. They want entertainment and escape. This is a good film, but it is very \u2026 different,\u201d said a college student named Moises, one of a handful of people who came to see \u201cJoyland\u201d last week in a near-empty theater in Rawalpindi city, the only one then offering it in the capital region.<\/p>\n
But by Wednesday, officials had partially removed the ban, allowing the film to be shown in many areas of the country. When \u201cJoyland\u201d reopened in the upscale Centaurus shopping mall in the capital, the seats were packed, and the audience response was largely positive.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a lovely movie, so close to reality,\u201d said Hamid Ilyas, 19, a student. \u201cThe world is changing, and a single movie can\u2019t harm our society or separate us from our values.\u201d In many Pakistani movies, he said, transgender people are mocked or insulted. \u201cIf this one projects their role in society a bit differently, what\u2019s the harm?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
Transgender and human rights activists said it has taken years of effort and legal battles to win protections and social services, such as separate health facilities, access to public jobs and the right to marry. In 2012, the Supreme Court of Pakistan ordered the government to provide transgender people with full constitutional rights, and in 2018, Pakistan\u2019s legislature approved a broader array of protections under the Transgender Persons Act.<\/p>\n
But the most sensitive issues, especially the right of transgender people to marry and declare their sex, have remained unresolved. Many have retreated to the mystical culture of Sufi Muslim shrines and beliefs, asserting that their gender is a matter of spiritual conviction. But Muslim clerics and authorities here refuse to accept that argument.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese people are creatures of God who should have due rights,\u201d said Qibla Ayaz, the director of Pakistan\u2019s Council on Islamic Ideology, \u201cbut they cannot be allowed to declare a self-perceived option\u201d that they are from one sex if they were assigned another at birth. \u201cThey need to be examined by a doctor to make that determination before being issued any official identification.\u201d<\/p>\n
In an interview several weeks ago with a Pakistani newspaper, Sadiq said he had no concerns about his film causing controversy, describing it as \u201cnot sensational in any way.\u201d While noting that transgender people are often ridiculed and impersonated for laughs in Pakistan, he added, \u201cmaybe it\u2019s time for people to grow up\u201d and accept a film that portrays one with \u201csensitivity\u201d and respect.<\/p>\n
Amid political turmoil, Pakistan holds its breath for new army chief<\/p>\n
\u201cInstead of being a source of pride, \u2018Joyland\u2019 is to be sacrificed at the altar of bigotry and hypocrisy,\u201d the editors of the Dawn newspaper charged, just before the ban was lifted. Rather than \u201ckowtowing\u201d to religious pressure groups, they said, Pakistani authorities should get \u201con the right side of history,\u201d allowing the nation\u2019s talents to flow and its citizens a rare chance to rejoice.<\/p>\n
View this article at The Washington Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Oscar attention puts Pakistan\u2019s transgender community under the spotlight: ISLAMABAD, Pakistan \u2014 For generations, they have been a familiar sight in Pakistan\u2019s urban landscape \u2014 tall figures in alluring costumes and makeup, selling flowers on street corners or reaching out manicured hands for a few rupees. They are often hired to perform dances at festivals,
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