“From now onward, a third gender individual can be a voter with their own identity, as a hijra,” Abdul Baten, the Director of National Identity Registration declared. The trans community of Bangladesh has finally been granted the right to register to vote under a “third gender” identity category. Government officials allocated the category on the national voters’ list for the country’s trans community, commonly known as hijra. Prior to the change, Bangladeshi voters could only

Two groundbreaking bills have been introduced in Pakistan’s National Assembly that aim to expand transgender rights in Pakistan. The  bills widen the definition of trans people to include  “any person whose gender identity and/or gender expression differs from the society norms and cultural expectations based on the sex they were assigned at the time of their birth” and would also make it illegal to deprive trans people from inheriting property, evict them

Mawaan Rizwan is a British gay YouTuber. He traveled to Pakistan to find out How Gay is Pakistan.  To play the video outside of the UK, make sure to first add the BBC iPlayer proxy to your Chrome browser. After it is installed, click on this link to play the video. For all the homophobia and ridicule he sees, he also finds people who have set up a center for

While the shock and grief at the senseless massacre in Peshawar is still setting in, we invite you to join the Organization of Pakistani Students at Columbia University tonight (Dec 17) for a candlelight vigil to offer prayers and thoughts for the victims and their families. Visit their Facebook event page to RSVP. It starts at 7pm at the Sundial at the Columbia University Campus (1 train to 116th Street).

Harune Massey, an award-winning writer and director working out of Pakistan and New York, presents his short film “Nightlife” as part of the New York Indian Film Festival. “Nightlife” provides a highly nuanced glimpse into the life of male sex workers of Lahore who often ply their trade as teenage masseurs clinking their oil bottles on the discreet but known-to-the-customer street corners waiting to be picked up by passing motorists. The

How lucky are we to get a personalized birthday shout out from UK’s supreme drag diva—Asifa Lahore!? Asifa’s been getting major media buzz lately with her new Tum Hi Ho video and for being banned from engaging in a debate about being gay and Muslim on BBC’s show “Free Speech” which took place at Birmingham Central Mosque. Thank you, Asifa, for the wishes and for bringing visibility and a bit of

Three young people in Lahore try to escape the reality of their everyday lives. They succeed in ways they least expected. Zinda Bhaag, directed by Meenu Gaur and Farjad Nabi, and produced by Mazhar Zaidi has been selected as the Pakistani entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 86th Academy Awards—for the first in over 50 years. Check out the trailer here. The local lead actors describe their own ability

The Asia Society’s blog, which featured our own Ashu Rai a few months ago, has a new interview up with Bindiya Rana,  president of Gender Interactive Alliance in Pakistan, an organization that works for the rights and social justice for  the transgender  community in Pakistan.  Bindiya talks about her work with the organization in Pakistan which has been focused on providing access to basic health care and the well being of transgender people in