I was waiting at a signal when a transgender man was dragged through the mud for begging 10 rupees. Some people were kind to him, but most others thought he was disgusting. That moment stayed with me for a long time. The way people act toward transgenders forces me to dig into the darkest mental hole I have ever had. It makes me wonder why trans people in my nation are pushed into begging just to survive.
I used to think that the most oppression in Pakistan happens to women. But if any community has suffered the most oppression in the last seventy years, it is the transgender community. In a documentary, I once heard something that shocked me: if a transgender person dies on one side of the road and a dog dies on the other side, people will gather to look at the dog. It sounds harsh, but sometimes it feels painfully true. We have never truly considered them human.
Their parents often do not accept them. Their neighbors do not accept them. Their relatives turn away from them. Even the people living in the same streets avoid them. Many of them are forced to leave their homes at a young age. They grow up in a world where they already know they are unwanted. Imagine starting life with that feeling.
On top of that, society closes almost every door for them. They are rarely allowed to buy a house. Many landlords refuse to rent them a room. Jobs are almost impossible to find. When every path is blocked, what choices are left? We then criticize them for begging on the streets or dancing at ceremonies, as if those were choices they happily made. In reality, those are often the only ways society has left open for them to survive.
You would think that in a supposedly civilized society we would have learned something by now. Yet they are still treated as if they have no place among us. The question that keeps coming to my mind is simple: why are they considered unworthy? Why don’t we include them in humanity?
Men’s rights, women’s rights, and even the rights of animals are constantly discussed. The media talks about these issues all the time. Human rights are the banner under which protests for justice are organized every day. Everywhere I look, I hear debates about feminism or male chauvinism. But rarely do I hear anyone seriously talking about the lives of transgender people.
While the world is busy planning vegetation on Mars, we still cannot figure out how to treat a human being standing in front of us with basic respect. We dream about the future of humanity on other planets, yet we ignore a community that has been living beside us for centuries.
The truth is that most of us never even communicate with them. We never sit with them, never ask about their lives, and never try to understand their struggles. They exist in the same cities, on the same streets, but they remain invisible to us.
People talk about violence and assault as terrible tragedies, and they are. But think about what transgender people face. A person may be raped once or twice in their lifetime, and the world will react with outrage. But many transgender individuals have faced abuse so many times that it becomes an unspoken reality of their lives. Yet no one notices. No one raises their voice for them.
In my opinion, they are among the saddest and most despondent beings on this planet. Some of them may come from respectable and educated families, but once society pushes them away, they are left with almost nothing except survival. What hurts even more is the lack of empathy and compassion from the rest of us.
If you ever listen to them carefully, their small wishes can make you cry. Many of them do not dream about wealth or fame. They simply want respect. They want safety. They want a chance to live a normal life like everyone else.
The government must take serious steps to guarantee their rights. They should have access to the justice system so that crimes against them are not ignored. They should be able to receive education and develop skills so they can find respectable jobs. Policies alone, however, are not enough. Real change begins at home.
We must teach our children to respect them as human beings. If the next generation grows up with empathy instead of hatred, maybe one day a transgender person standing at a traffic signal will not be seen as something disgusting, but simply as another human being who deserves dignity and respect.
Fizza Qaisar is a journalist who writes about social issues and human rights.
