Dear Editor,
I am not trying to evaluate the folks that were arrested for cross-dressing, however, what if they are gender variant?
Just because homosexuality and gender variance is not something Mr Abu Bakr can perceive does not mean it’s not real to others. (‘One cannot believe in multiple “souls”’ SN, April 20). Mr Bakr is trying to blend the lines between sexual orientation and one’s gender identity. Sexual orientation is sexual attraction; gender identity is one’s perception of self – two very different issues, even though both are generated from the brain. Hermaphroditism is mostly caused by hormones or the lack thereof in the womb. (See too chromosomal variations such as Turner’s syndrome or Klinefelter’s syndrome.)
Mr Bakr talks of the hijra. They were not always as he said in his letter, “Generally sex workers and singers at wedding houses and fairs. Beggars and bothersome.” They were once honoured people, and only after the European colonists destroyed their culture were they then outcasts. Many trans folks are successful doctors, lawyers, scientists, computer engineers, airline pilots, teachers, politicians and so on.
What we want for our children is our dream, and most likely not theirs.
Yours faithfully,
Vicky Sawyer
