May 11, 2007Quickie Link: Change Sex or Die -- By Doug Ireland
By vanrozenheim
(Iran) - How Iran's official discourse on the transgendered conceals a multitude of evils and ills can be seen in the following, eye-opening interview with Atrian, a 26-year-old male-to-female transsexual activist also known as Sayeh, who fled Iran last year to Turkey. Atrian says that there are many people who accept sex-change surgery to escape persecution as homosexuals. "There are only a small percentage of people who get a sex-change operation who are actually transgendered. Out of some 100 transsexuals whom I've encountered," she reported, "only 20 of them were genuinely transgendered, and the rest are gay." Unable to endure the barrage of government persecution, scathing religious opprobrium, and often the hatred of their own families, said Atrian, "Many gays, for many different reasons, become emotional and get the operation. But soon after getting the operation, they'll cry for days at the mistake they have made."
