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I feel like this is one of those too good to check things that comes up every once in a while. It's about the 10th time I've heard it.
So here's my question. Is this just like 3 dudes who transitioned socially in the 1980s, or is this a real thing with medical transition clinics, drag shows at libraries, ideological support, the whole nine yards?
If I had to wager, I'd guess it's the former and that by any reasonable western standard, Iran would be considered extremely anti-trans.
Drag shows at libraries, no. I'd imagine Western rainbow-flag-ism is about as banned as you'd think it'd be.
But they do have medical transition clinics which see some use. The government will recognize the transition and even change your name and sex on your birth certificate. The public isn't too much in favour of it, and these people obviously do see discrimination, but Khomeini himself issued not one but two fatwas explicitly endorsing it.
It's also a way for homosexuals to get out of the punishment for being homosexual (I'm explicitly not saying "gay" here as I am referring to the sexual orientation and not to the whole culture that's been built around it in the West). They'll make you have surgery before they'll recognize it though, so it's your dick or your life, basically.
Minus that last part it's not too far off from how it used to be in Western countries before the 2010s. Gender dysphoria has been a thing for a while, so has transition, it just used to be rare and not politicised.
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Iran actually has a very high rate of trans-ID. Often at gunpoint, they force homosexuals to transition.
The #yeschad way to be pro trans rights.
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This is extremely easy to look up; Iran subscribes to some transgender ideology, but it doesn’t manifest in the same way at all because they're very socially illiberal instead of very socially liberal. It's a fluke but not in the sense that it involves very few people or in the sense that it isn’t very well-established policy.
I looked it up. Exact numbers are impossible to find, but they do have medical transitioning. Best/most recent data that ChatGPT could find was this:
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-021-02250-y
Also this:
https://6rang.org/english/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Diagnosing-Identities-Paralyzing-Bodies.pdf
How many actually get surgery? Presumably it's non zero but it could be anywhere from single digits to about 200 per year. I'd treat any reporting on this as highly suspicious by default as its something that certain people want to be true so badly they will crucify the truth to make it that way. It's not a neutral issue where academic and media reporting can be trusted uncritically.
Nevertheless, it does appear to be happening. Very odd.
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