LGBTQ have a long history of persecution in Pakistan.
Pakistan is a country where homosexuality is on its peak. According to Mother Jones (magazine) 14 June 2013;
"Pakistan internet users top Google searches for gay sex despite being one of the world's most homophobic countries. Pakistan has one of the medium volume of internet searches for gay pornography despite being one of the least tolerant countries when it comes to homosexuality".
The most searches for terms related to same-sex acts came from a conservative stronghold, the city of Peshawar, rather than major cosmopolitan cities such as Lahore and Karachi according to analysis of Google trends by Mother Jones (magazine).
On ther other hand, the major cities of Pakistan where gay porn is very popular; Peshawar, Lahore, Karachi, Faisalabad, Multan, Gujranwala, Rawalpindi, Bahawalpur, Quetta, Loralai, Sibi, Panjgur, Larkana, Hyderabad, Sindh, Nawabshah, Dadu, Mianwali, Chakwal, Dera Ghazi Khan, Jhang , Dera Ismail Khan, Taunsa, Hazara Division, Bannu, Lakki Marwat, Swat, Mardan.
The first reference to homosexuality can be found during the era of the Achaemenid empire from the 6th century BCE onwards. In 521 BCE, the Achaemenid Empire crucifies Polycrates and suppresses pederasty in Samos, which causes pederastic poets Ibycus and Anacreon to flee Samos. [1] [2]
It is likely that the region that encompasses Pakistan had been influenced by homophobic values at a much earlier period than other Asian regions such as the Indosphere and Sinosphere.[ original research? ] Evidence from literary works and artworks relating to Zoroastrianism, Buddhism and Islam suggest that non-heterosexual sex was looked down upon or forbidden since at least 250 B.C.[ citation needed ] Historically around 250 BC, during the Parthian Empire, the Zoroastrian text Vendidad was written. It contains provisions that are part of sexual code promoting procreative sexuality that is interpreted to prohibit same-sex intercourse as sinful. Ancient commentary on this passage suggests that those engaging in sodomy could be killed without permission from a high priest. [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
By 634 BCE, the Rashidun Caliphate reached the coastal region of Makran in present-day Balochistan. [8]
During the Mughal Empire, a number of the pre-existing Delhi Sultanate laws were combined into the Fatawa-e-Alamgiri, mandating several types of punishments for homosexuality. [9] These could include 50 lashes for a slave, 100 for a free infidel, or death by stoning for a Muslim. [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15]
The Colonial British government criminalized Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) activities in India under section 377 of the Indian Penal code of 1860. [16] Pakistan gained independence in 1947 and adapted the same laws regarding LGBT under the Pakistan Penal Code. The Pakistan Penal Code states, "Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment of either description for a term which shall not be less than two years nor more than ten years, and shall also be liable to fine. [17]
In the 1980s, the rules against LGBT community stiffened even more under the sixth president of Pakistan; General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. The punishment for homosexual activities increased to life imprisonment or even death by stoning as a result of the Sharia Law added to Pakistan Penal Code. [18] Homosexuality was somewhat supportive in major cities e.g. in Lahore and in Karachi there were secret gay parties during the regime of General Pervez Musharraf; Ali Saleem, son of a retired army colonel, appeared in television disguising as a woman, he openly talked about his sexuality that he is bisexual. [19]
The religious leaders of Pakistan have consistently forbidden and condemned LGBT activities as being immoral under the constitution of Islam. [20] In accordance with Islamic Law, Homosexual marriage is condemned and not recognized as legitimate.
People in Pakistan who consider themselves to be a part of the LGBT community do not expose their sexual preference in public due to the fear of being looked down upon or physically attacked. [21]
Transgender community in Pakistan is "tolerated" and is believed to possess supernatural power of cursing people. They are the outcasts of the society and work as beggars, street dancers & prostitutes. Mostly a patriarch society, it is the men who call out to them and against them. There is even a belief among people that transgender people are just prostitutes for money. Religious clerics would declare them haraam (sinful), un-natural, inhuman and aliens and call upon the society to have no connections or interactions with them. Trans-teens are usually kept a family secret and are considered a disgrace and matter of family shame. They are either sold-off for as low as $200 or just left on their own. They have little choice but to work for survival, and without help from family, friends, community or government there are few options.
Pakistan has been known to foster practices like Bacha bazi and/or Dancing boys in its northwestern province. There are several self-declared vigilante groups who patrol the countryside looking to catch people in the act and punish them.
Muhammad Ejaz, a paramedic in Pakistan, entered the homes of three men in Lahore he met on the gay social networking site, Manjam, and killed them. Two of the men were in their 20s and one was middle-aged retired army major. Eijaz stated, "I tried to convince them to stop their dirty acts, but they would not, so I decided to kill them". [22] The social networking site, Manjam, has since then not allowed any Pakistani individuals to sign up on their site for security reasons. Eijaz was taken into custody by the Pakistani Police which insisted that he had sex with the victims before killing them. [23]
Cases of violence against members of the LGBT community are very common in Pakistan. [24] Members of the LGBT community in Pakistan rarely report assaults committed against them to the police, in fact The Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRBC) noted in January 2014 that if an LGBT person who faced threats from family or community members went to the police, the police "may become an accomplice rather than a protector." [25]
According to TransAction Alliance, as of June 2016 there were more than 300 cases of violence against transgender people in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa alone, and 46 transgender people had been killed since January 2015. [26] There are reports that show that violence against transgender individuals has been increasing every year. [27] Very often when these cases are reported to the police they may be met with inaction or indifference.
After a long period of public protests and appeals, In 2009, Supreme Court of Pakistan legally recognized transgender people as a third gender promising them Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC). The court also directed government agencies and offices to employ transgender people but that hasn't seen much traction. However, Cantonment Board Faisal (CBF) gave out an advertisement for employment of transgender people as in Tax Recovery. As many as 15 transgender people were employed on the first advert. [28] Government has also issued voter cards for the transgender community. [29]
Social and dating platforms like Tinder, Manjam, Grindr and Scruff are helping create an online community. With NGOs like NAZ Male Health Alliance founded by Kasim Iqbal, the LGBTQ community is coming together and helping each other. They enjoy partial freedom and covertly live life their way.
Within the Muslim world, sentiment towards LGBT people varies and has varied between societies and individual Muslims, but is contemporarily quite negative. While colloquial, and in many cases, de facto official acceptance of at least some homosexual behavior was commonplace in pre-modern periods, later developments, starting from the 19th-century, have created a generally hostile environment for LGBT people. Most Muslim-majority countries have opposed moves to advance LGBT rights and recognition at the United Nations (UN), including within the UN General Assembly and the UN Human Rights Council.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Iran face severe challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Sexual activity between members of the same sex is illegal and can be punishable by death, and people can legally change their assigned sex only through a sex reassignment surgery. Currently, Iran is the only country confirmed to execute gay people federally, though death penalty for homosexuality might be enacted in Afghanistan.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Chad face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Both male and female forms of same-sex sexual activity are illegal in the country. Before the new penal code took effect in August 2017, homosexual activity between adults had never been criminalised. There is no legal protection against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
In Iraq, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) individuals are subject to widespread discrimination. Openly gay men are not permitted to serve in the military and same-sex marriage or civil unions are illegal. LGBT people do not have any legal protections against discrimination and are frequently victims of vigilante justice and honor killings.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan face severe challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Afghan members of the LGBT community are forced to keep their gender identity and sexual orientation secret, in fear of violence and the death penalty. The religious nature of the country has limited any opportunity for public discussion, with any mention of homosexuality and related terms deemed taboo.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Kenya face significant challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Sodomy is a felony per Section 162 of the Kenyan Penal Code, punishable by 21 years' imprisonment, and any sexual practices are a felony under section 165 of the same statute, punishable by 5 years' imprisonment. On 24 May 2019, the High Court of Kenya refused an order to declare sections 162 and 165 unconstitutional. The state does not recognise any relationships between persons of the same sex; same-sex marriage is banned under the Kenyan Constitution since 2010. There are no explicit protections against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Adoption is restricted to heterosexual couples only.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people living in Lebanon may face discrimination and legal difficulties not experienced by non-LGBT residents, although they have more freedom than in other parts of the Arab world, as Beirut is often called the Gay Capital of the Arab world. Various courts have ruled that Article 534 of the Lebanese Penal Code, which prohibits having sexual relations that "contradict the laws of nature", should not be used to arrest LGBT people. Nonetheless, the law is still being used to harass and persecute LGBT people through occasional police arrests, in which detainees are sometimes subject to intrusive physical examinations.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Suriname may face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Both male and female expressions of same-sex sexual activity are legal in Suriname. Since 2015, hate speech and discrimination in employment and the provision of goods and services on the basis of sexual orientation has been banned in the country. Same-sex marriage and civil unions are not recognised by law. Nevertheless, Suriname is legally bound to the January 2018 Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruling, which held that same-sex marriage is a human right protected by the American Convention on Human Rights.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Pakistan face legal and social difficulties compared to non-LGBT persons. Pakistani law prescribes criminal penalties for same-sex sexual acts. The Pakistani Penal Code of 1860, originally developed under the British Raj, criminalises sodomy with possible penalties of prison sentences from two years to a life sentence and fines. Despite its illegality, homosexual acts are only occasionally prosecuted by authorities in Pakistan. Other morality and public order provisions in the Penal Code are however used to target LGBT Pakistanis.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Kazakhstan face significant challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Both male and female kinds of same-sex sexual activity are legal in Kazakhstan, but same-sex couples and households headed by same-sex couples are not eligible for the same legal protections available to opposite-sex married couples.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in Bangladesh face widespread social and legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBTQ people. Homosexuality is illegal under Bangladeshi law, which is inherited from the colonial British Indian government's Section 377 of 1860. According to the law, the punishment for engaging in same-sex sexual activities is imprisonment.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) people in Yemen face severe challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Same-sex sexual activity is punishable by death; this law is applied to both men and women. Members of the LGBT community additionally face stigmatization and homophobic violence among the broader population.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Bhutan face legal challenges that are not faced by non-LGBT people. Same-sex sexual activity was decriminalised in Bhutan on 17 February 2021.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Brunei face severe challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Both male and female expressions of homosexuality are illegal in Brunei. Sexual activity between men is de jure liable to capital punishment, with de facto lesser penalties of imprisonment and whipping applied; sex between women is punishable by caning or imprisonment. The sultanate applied a moratorium on the death penalty in 2019, which was still in effect as at May 2023. The moratorium could be revoked at any time.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, non-binary and otherwise queer, non-cisgender, non-heterosexual citizens of El Salvador face considerable legal and social challenges not experienced by fellow heterosexual, cisgender Salvadorans. While same-sex sexual activity between all genders is legal in the country, same-sex marriage is not recognized; thus, same-sex couples—and households headed by same-sex couples—are not eligible for the same legal benefits provided to heterosexual married couples.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Mozambique face legal challenges not faced by non-LGBT people. Same-sex sexual activity became legal in Mozambique under the new Criminal Code that took effect in June 2015. Discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment has been illegal since 2007.
The history of LGBT people in Iran spans thousands of years. Homosexuality has been viewed as a sin in Islam, and is outlawed in almost all Muslim-majority countries, including Iran. In pre-Islamic Iran, a tradition of homosexuality existed, however most were intolerant of pederasty and sexual activity between two men, especially the Zoroastrians. According to Ammianus Marcellinus, Iranians were “far from immoral relations with boys”.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people generally have limited or highly restrictive rights in most parts of the Middle East, and are open to hostility in others. Sex between men is illegal in 9 of the 18 countries that make up the region. It is punishable by death in five of these 18 countries. The rights and freedoms of LGBT citizens are strongly influenced by the prevailing cultural traditions and religious mores of people living in the region – particularly Islam.
The following outline offers an overview and guide to LGBT topics.
Capital punishment as a criminal punishment for homosexuality has been implemented by a number of countries in their history. It currently remains a legal punishment in several countries and regions, most of which have sharia–based criminal laws, except for Uganda.
(...) Ahura Mazda answered: 'The man that lies with mankind as man lies with womankind, or as woman lies with mankind, is the man that is a Daeva; this one is the man that is a worshipper of the Daevas, that is a male paramour of the Daevas, that is a female paramour of the Daevas, that is a wife to the Daeva; this is the man that is as bad as a Daeva, that is in his whole being a Daeva; this is the man that is a Daeva before he dies, and becomes one of the unseen Daevas after death: so is he, whether he has lain with mankind as mankind, or as womankind. The guilty may be killed by any one, without an order from the Dastur (see § 74 n.), and by this execution an ordinary capital crime may be redeemed. (...)
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