Tactics story
Safe spaces for transgender women, Pakistan

Tactic: Defiance

Transgender people in Pakistan are often rejected by their families and forced to live on begging, dancing or prostitution. Although there are no official limitations on transgender people attending places of worship, transgender people are often turned away.

In the outskirts of Islamabad, a transgender woman has defied norms by opening the country’s first Madrasa for transgender people, offering a safe space to gain education and deepen their faith. Meanwhile a female pastor in Karachi opened the first church for transgender people in the grounds of her house, after church officials refused to allow her to use church premises.

“When we go to other churches, they ask us to cut our hair before entering.”

Sources: Al Jazeera; gandhara.rferl.org