[b]Transsexuals in Iran[/b]
Iran is a curious country. Behind its international bravado it hails some of the most advanced thinking of our modern age and sophisticated medical treatment.
Ruled by conservative Islamic values, in some ways, at times it appears almost liberal in comparison to other Muslim nations - and even when compared to America's Christian Right wingers. The Iranian government have not only allowed sex change operations, they are paying for them. This is perhaps because Ayatollah Khomeini, over 40 years ago, wrote about new medical issues such as transsexuality.

The change in Iranian law was mainly due to one early campaigner for transsexual rights, called Maryam Hatoon Molkara (formerly a man known as Fereydoon). She wanted religious authorisation on the subject so she had been writing letters to Ayatollah Khomeini since 1975. After the revolution, she was forcedly injected with male hormone and institutionalised.

When later released, she kept lobbying many other leaders and actually went to see Khomeini, who had returned to Iran by then. At first she was repeatedly stopped and beaten by his guards but eventually Khomeini gave her a fatwa to authorise her gender reassignment operation.

Now in Iran, to obtain legal permission for a sex change and new birth certificates, applicants must provide medical proof of gender-identity disorder. The process can take years and also involves considerable expense.

In Tehran, the initial male-to-female surgery runs about $4,000 (US Dollars), but expenditures three times that amount are not uncommon. Guidelines used by Doctors in the states have set minimum criteria for gender reassignment to prevent inappropriate sex changes, and these standards of care are recognised in most countries.

Patients should undergo at least three months of psychotherapy before taking sex-changing hormones. They should then live full-time in their desired gender role for at least a year before surgery, to see how they cope with work, family, friends and even relationships.

Critics of Islam, and New-age Christians, who claim that it is incompatible with liberal values miss something important: Islam is conservative in different ways than Christianity, which means that any “incompatibility” will show up in different places and for different reasons. Islam isn’t necessarily meant to be particular in its teachings to make things difficult, but it will be different. That can lead to unexpected situations like this.

In the UK there are up to 400 Sex-change operations a year now and around 5,000 people in Britain have had a sex change. In contrast, before the Islamic Revolution in 1979 the issue of transsexuality in Iran had never been officially addressed by the government. However by the 1980s transgender individuals were officially recognised by the government and allowed to undergo sex reassignment surgery.

Previously, the nation’s ruling clerics classified transsexuals and transvestites with gays and lesbians, who were condemned by Islam, and if charged, faced flogging under Iran’s penal code. Now the number of sex-change operations in Iran exceeds the above number.

Paradoxically though, a growing number of post-operative transsexuals are now scathing about their medical care. This is putting to question the whole sex-change industry. International research suggests that 3-18% of them come to regret switching gender. Currently, access to surgery is controlled by transgender psychiatrists specialising in the treatment of gender identity disorders (GID).

Their role is to check that patients are truly transsexual and possess an overwhelming desire to become the gender they feel they always should have been. The psychiatrists must also rule out mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia or manic depression, as the cause of the patient's desire to switch gender, and ensure they are not a transvestite who just enjoys cross-dressing.

This is not an easy task. Many transsexuals suffer from serious mental health problems as a result of the prejudice they face and the suffering of living in what they regard as the wrong body. It can be particularly difficult to judge whether patients with borderline personality disorder, characterised by impulsive behaviour, and a poor sense of identity and self-harm, are genuinely transsexual.

Many transgender psychiatrists admit that the boundaries between transsexualism, transvestism and homosexuality are still not entirely clear to them, so a thorough exploration of the patient's history and lifestyle is essential to explore.

Consequently, the lack of medical consensus has led some to call for a moratorium on gender reassignment. A man named Alan Finch set up the ‘Gender Identity Awareness Association’, to dissuade people from genital surgery and campaign against what he calls the "sex change industry". Finch wants all treatment stopped, arguing that transsexualism was invented by psychiatrists.

Finch, formerly known as Helen, wants to know why people who want a sex change are treated differently from other psychiatric patients who hate their bodies. He says: "The fact that someone's suicidal and wanting something isn't a reason to provide it. The analogy I use about giving surgery to someone desperate to change sex is it's a bit like offering liposuction to an anorexic."

Is this a sound point? Some healthcare professional say hormones and surgery have proved effective only in treating transsexualism. They have not been successful at 'curing' transsexuals, in contrast to people with other body identity disorders, who undertake psychotherapy, such as anorexia or body dysmorphia. However, if this is to be the only argument to stop the operations altogether, then it is not enough. Having the operation and undergoing treatment must remain a viable option, albeit a last resort option.

It is essential if the ‘disorders’ these individuals face are a medical condition – as in many countries, treatment of which would be deemed as part of their human rights.

What’s left now is acceptance by the masses of transsexuals. And unfortunately, the Iranian society has yet to catch up with its religious leaders - who say transsexuality is an illness like any other for which Islam has the solution and science the cure.

source: muslimyouth.net

[b]DO MUSLIMS HAVE A SEXUALITY PROBLEM/ISSUE/DILEMMA?
IS BEING STRAIGHT BORING AND OUT OF FASHION NOWADAYS?
ARE THERE MANY MUSLIM HOMOSEXUALS/TRANSEXUALS/TRANSVESTITES ETC IN MUSLIM COUNTRIES OR EVEN HERE IN UK AND THE WEST?
IF SO ...WHY?
A QUESTION ASKED MY MANY NON MUSLIMS IS:
WHY DOES ISLAM NOT OFFER FREEDOM OF SEXUALITY?
HOW WOULD MUSLIMS AND ISLAM TRY TO COMMUNICATE, HELP AND GUIDE PEOPLE OF SUCH SEXUALITIES?

PLS SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS[/b]