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Transgender rights in Iran

Discrimination[edit]
There is still a great deal of stigma attached to the idea of transgender and gender reassignment in ordinary Iranian society, and most transgender people, after completing their transition, are advised to maintain discretion about their past. Trans people are subject to employment discrimination, rejection by their families and communities, police abuse, and depression. Because they are typically rejected by their families and social networks, where Iranians usually look to for financial support and employment opportunities, they are often forced into sex work and sometimes commit suicide. A 2021 study in Health Care for Women International found that 92% of trans women in Iran had faced verbal or emotional violence and over 70% had faced physical violence. The study further found that "most people do not report this violence to the authorities and believe that reporting is useless." Most participants in a 2018 study in Quality & Quantity had "experiences of being accused, arrested, and physically abused by the police" and faced discrimination in the workplace, including being fired for being trans. Division between trans men and trans women portrays trans men as more "real" or valid than trans women.

A 2016 report by OutRight Action International found that "trans Iranians continue to face serious discrimination and abuse in both law and practice, and they are rarely treated as equal members of society" and that "the Iranian trans community faces pressure from both state and non-state actors, ranging from hostile public attitudes to acts of extreme violence, risk of arrest, detention, and prosecution." The report noted that Iranian police would often arrest anyone they suspected of being trans and would hold them in custody until they could complete an official investigation to determine that the arrested individual was legally recognised as trans. Police would also frequently target trans people for flogging under anti-cross-dressing rules. Justice for Iran has found that "censorship laws prevent access to accurate information on matters relating to sexual orientation and gender identity."

Trans people are banned from serving in the Iranian military and issued specific exemption cards by the military. This practice of identifying transgender individuals put them at risk of physical abuse and discrimination.