Afford equality to transgender people
By Ivy Josiah
“On 12 October 2015, three trans women from Seremban were arrested while shopping in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur. The three were approached by a man requesting sexual services, a common assumption that all trans women are willing to provide sexual services in exchange for money or otherwise.
They refused, and the man later accused them of stealing his wallet, which actually fell on the ground and was immediately found. The police arrested the trans women anyway, and detained them at the Dang Wangi police station. The three were remanded for three days under Section 380 of the penal code – Theft in dwelling house, etc.[1]
The three spent an extra day in detention due to a public holiday. The women were allegedly asked to remove their clothes and were subjected to further humiliation in detention. There were also reports of physical assault”. - Justice for Sisters
Reading this true story got me thinking, what will it take for authorities and our community to remove punitive practices and its associated punishing laws against transgender persons?
Activists have produced petitions, memorandums, letters to the editors, first persons video stories on You Tube, and even taken up cases to the court to argue that arbitrary arrests of transgender persons under a religious state law is unconstitutional. So far it has not brought about any real reform, so what will it take to stop the continued violations of human rights against the transgender community?
I thought I would turn to God for some answers. I say God because most times, in a country like Malaysia, we are told that transgender persons are not God’s children and that these laws are based on religious teachings to ensure good morality.
What if indeed God or Goddess – get over it, God can be a woman! – is standing in front of you and you are given this chance to ask, humbly of course, for God’s blessings if we can do the following: Detain transgender persons in lock-ups; fine them for dressing in women’s clothes; not offer them jobs even if they are qualified; force them to attend religious and morality classes; strip a transgender person; detain transgender women in a male lock-up; call her names like faggot, sissy, freak, or slap her around and heap further humiliation by shaving her head whilst in remand; condemn, whip and even execute them.
My sense is that my God, your god, everybody’s God, will give us a resounding NO. We are told and we believe that God is merciful, God is love, God is compassionate and God is just. We see solace in our respective faiths. Should it not make sense that inflicting indignities on any human being will displease the Almighty besides robbing you of your own integrity? Besides, God does not make mistakes.
In all seriousness, all religions do not sanction humiliation, deprivation and violence. I firmly believe and understand that God does not discriminate – people do. I further believe that religions encourage decent behaviour towards one another. Furthermore, we can be assured that ALL persons are entitled to enjoy and claim rights as guaranteed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), including the Yogyakarta Principles on the Application of International Human Rights Law in Relation to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, 2006.
Transgender persons have a right not to live in the margins of society; authorities do not have a right to control, shape and decide your gender identity. But the unfettered need to control, judge and make sure that you conform is all too familiar to women as well.
As a woman, I understand too well society’s various attempts to control my sexuality. Cutting my long hair to a bob when I was 16 – “You look like a boy!” smack! Wearing a mini skirt is cheap, crossing your legs is uncouth and wearing pants is manly.
Women are expected to be slim, fair, obedient, chaste and demure. Power and control can translate to domestic violence, rape and in extreme cases, the slicing off of the outer genitalia to reduce a woman’s libido. Women have been and are still relegated to a lower position, but we have instinctively demanded for equal rights, from voting to equal wages, and to be free from violence.
Transgender persons are simply asking for the same: Equality, equal treatment and freedom of expression. A person whose gender identity does not match the sex she was assigned at birth is living her truth. It is no use banding about words like diversity, inclusivity, acceptance and human rights for all if we do not behave in a kind, fair and respectful way towards one another.
Nov 20 is Transgender Day of Remembrance.
Ivy Josiah was formerly Executive Director of Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO), one of Malaysia’s leading women’s rights organisations. She is currently WAO’s fundraiser and host of the web-based talk show, The IvyGram.
