Pakistan's Transgender Political Candidates Stake Claim In National Vote
Agence France PresseAgence France Presse
TO GO WITH Pakistan-unrest-vote-sex,FOCUS by Khurram Shahzad This photograph taken on April 5, 2013 shows transgender Sanam Faqeer, an independent candidate for Pakistan's forthcoming general elections, brushing her hair at her residence as she prepares for campaigning in the southern city of Sukkur. Stereotyped as dancers, beggars and prostitutes, Pakistan's vibrant but shunned transgender community has struck out into politics, contesting elections for the first time as a distinct community. They may only be seven out of 23,000 candidates with little chance of getting elected, but they have livened up an otherwise lacklustre campaign and set an important marker for their rights in the conservative Muslim country. AFP PHOTO / ASIF HASSAN (Photo credit should read ASIF HASSAN/AFP/Getty Images)
Pakistan's Transgender Political Candidates Stake Claim In National Vote
15 Things To Know About Being Transgender By Nicholas M. Teich
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1. Defining Transgenderism
The root of the word "transgender" comes from the Latin word "trans," meaning "across." A trans-Atlantic flight goes across the Atlantic Ocean; a transnational issue affects people all across the country; and so on. "Transgender" literally means "across gender." "Transgender" is defined today as an umbrella term with many different identities existing under it.
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