Transgenderism vs. homosexuality in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq

Transgenderism and homosexuality

in Kuwait , Saudi Arabia , Iran and Iraq Introduction

In this I will address the issues of transgenderism and homosexuality . These issues are quite controversial and attitude to them is different in different countries of the world . It should be mentioned that attitude to sexual minorities is different in different countries of the world and varied though time

Brief Outline of the Homosexual and Transgender Issues

The first question under discussion is the homosexual relations . We can observe a great number of laws , intended to regulate the relations

between people of the same sex . In some countries this is considered quite acceptable . People of the same sex are even allowed to marry legally and even adopt children . In the other communities the attitude to the same-sex relations is completely different and homosexuals can even be punished with the death penalty for their homosexual conduct The fist laws on same-sex relations date back to 600 BC in ancient Crete and Sparta . These were the first laws allowing adult men to participate in the same sex relations (Rothblatt , 1995

In the majority of the Western cultures same-sex relations are tolerated and calling a person a gay or a lesbian can be considered even sufficient enough for a libel lawsuit , like this happened in case of Jason Donovan and Liberace , who won the case against the news calling them gays (Rothblatt , 1995

However , we can 't say that homosexual relations are always tolerated The first laws against same-sex relations date back to 550 BC , when homosexuals were called Leviticus and punished with the death penalty Many scholars attribute this difference in attitudes to a distinction between Judaism and Paganism . Pagan religions usually consider same-sex relations to be normal , while Judaism , Christianity and Islam blame people for the same-sex relations

One more issue under discussion in this is transgenderism , which can be briefly defined as a social movement , which is intended to support transgender rights and raise self-esteem of transgender people

One more definition , which I 'd like to mention , is the one proposed by Martine Rothblatt in her book Apartheid of Sex , where she defines transgenderism as a grassroots political movement seeking transgender rights and affirming transgender pride (Rothblatt , 1995 . On the other hand , transgenderism , is usually used to denote a phenomenon of gender identity dis . This definition is supported by the International Journal of Transgenderism

Transsexualism is also a subject matter of the study in this . It is usually defined as a condition , when individuals identify themselves with the physical sex different from the one of their birth . After the sexual revolution in Western Europe , which took place in the end of 20th century transsexualism became a recognized notion , however , in many other countries of the world it is still a taboo due to the religious and cultural norms accepted in the definite country (Lang , 1997

Quite close to the notion of transsexualism is the notion of transvestism , which is defined as a practice of cross-dressing , when...