A detailed bill that eyes to improve the lives of trans people in Pakistan is on the way to become law after the country’s National Assembly voted in favor to pass the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2017.
This historic bill aims to “provide for protection, relief and rehabilitation of rights of the transgender persons”.
Some of the specs in the bill include:
- Life imprisonment for anyone who forced a transgender person into illicit intercourse or kidnapped a transgender person.
- Rape of a transgender person would come with a death sentence or jail of up to 25 years.
- Allow transgender people to officially ‘change’ their gender without approval from a medical board.
- Protection of trans people from discrimination from employers, educational institutions, medical services, when renting or buying property and on public transport.
The bill now awaits presidential assent before it becomes official law.
