Last edited: February 10, 2005

Iran Decriminalizes Sex-Change Operations

The Advocate, August 3, 2004

Iran�s mullahs have approved sex-change operations despite their conservative Muslim and cultural beliefs, The New York Times reported Monday. Just after Iran�s Islamic revolution in 1979, the nation�s ruling clerics classified transsexuals and transvestites with gays and lesbians, who were condemned by Islam and, if charged, faced flogging under Iran�s penal code. Now Iran�s clerics, who dominate the judiciary, have said they will accept sex-change operations in society. To obtain legal permission for a sex change and new birth certificates, applicants must provide medical proof of gender-identity disorder. The process can take years and also involves considerable expense: In Tehran the initial male-to-female surgery runs about $4,000, but expenditures three times that amount are not uncommon.

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