Middle Eastern Nation Makes Historic Transgender Rights Decision

A 2007 law has been overturned in a landmark decision for transgender rights in the Middle East, ending the practice of arbitrarily arresting people whose appearance does not “match the gender” of their official identity card. 

Article 198 criminalized the “imitation of the opposite sex,” allowing Kuwaiti authorities to arrest and prosecute people whose looks or voice did not match the expected gender on their government-issued identification card. Further, the prosecuted people were often mocked as well as physically assaulted or sexually harassed by authorities.

“Article 198 was deeply discriminatory, overly vague, and never should have been accepted into law in the first place,” said Lynn Maalouf, deputy director of Amnesty International for the Middle East and North Africa. 

Many transgender people have trouble accessing basic health care, housing, jobs, and services that require an identification card in Kuwait, as they have no way of changing their legal gender. However, the recent move by the Kuwaiti constitutional court to overturn Article 198 gives a glimmer of hope to transgender people in Kuwait, across the Middle East, and around the world.