What Pakistan's LGBTQ community can teach us about destructive trans separatism

Pride Pakistan points to the way transgender separatists have caused immense harm to other trans and queer people. We see the same phenomenon in Western countries.

I believe we need to include all of the world in the transgender conversation, which is why I have tried to share stories from Asia, Africa and Latin-America  in my social media channels (which are - let us admit it - dominated by people from North America and Europe).

In a recent article Pride Pakistan discusses more recent event in Pakistan's LGBTQ community, with a focus on what I would call transgender separatism.

Facing extreme transphobia from religious fundamentalist authorities some trans activists try to distance themselves from the rest of the queer community in two ways:

1. Transmedicalism. They argue that true trans people are some kind of intersex, and that all policies had to be based on "biological sex" (which, in their minds it seems, seems to include themselves, but not any other trans people).

2. Homophobia: “Being transgender is a medical condition recognized by Islam, but being gay is a sin prohibited by the Quran.”

From the article:

//The most prominent example of this internal fracture occurred during the 2023 Federal Shariat Court (FSC) challenge against the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act of 2018.

In a shocking turn of events, it was not just conservative religious clerics leading the charge; it was certain factions of the transgender community itself. These groups argued that the law’s provision for “self-perceived identity” was “un-Islamic.” By advocating for a definition of transgender identity rooted strictly in biological “intersex” conditions, they effectively threw their own community members, those who transitioned socially or medically under the bus.//

This is, of course, how an oppressive patriarchal and sexist system works. It makes some marginalized people believe that if they play their cards right they might be accepted by the system. If the price is to throw everyone else under the bus, so be it.

Classical transsexual

When I started writing about gender variance and trans issues in this blog back in 2009, I found myself facing a group of trans women who called themselves "classic" or  "classical transsexuals", as opposed to people who called themselves "transgender", whom they saw as sexual deviants. 

They spent a lot of time attacking Ray Blanchard's toxic "autogynephilia" theory, while using the same theory to dismiss lesbian trans women. They did not care about trans men at all.

Some of us spent a lot of time deconstructing these mental maps, helping trans people free themselves from internalized homophobia and transphobia. I the end this subculture died out, before new generations resurrected this kind of conservative separatism as transmedicalism. 

None of these groups have ever been embraced by transphobes, although I guess that the privileged among them - i.e. those who have access to gender affirming care  and who have been able to please the traditionalist gatekeepers - might think they have chosen a winning strategy.

Becoming your own enemy

The article explains what makes this happen in a good way:

//When you are told from birth that your existence is “black magic,” a “spiritual disease,” or an “affront to God,” you develop a deep-seated need to prove you are “one of the good ones.” This leads to:

Horizontal Hostility: Attacking those within your community who are “more different” than you to appear more “normal” to the state.

Trauma-Induced Aggression: When mental health support is unavailable and you are forced into “conversion” sessions, that suppressed anger often manifests as hate toward your peers.//

Islamic or Christian, religious fanatics often behave in the same way, and they make use of the same tactics. Biological essentialism is an efficient weapon in this context.

Needless to say, the only ones who really win when trans people try to invalidate other trans people in the hope of fitting in are the transphobes.