Pakistan Jails Couple on Suspicion of Marriage

Four days ago, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said he hoped the release of a Malawi couple who had been jailed for homosexuality was “a new day for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights in Malawi and around the globe.” Today, however, comes news that a man and a transgender woman in Pakistan have been jailed on the allegation that they tried to marry. They could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted of violating the country's law prohibiting "carnal intercourse against the order of nature."

Rani, the transgender member of the jailed pair, says she and Malik Muhammad Iqbal were just celebrating a birthday and dancing with friends. Regardless of whether they are in fact in a relationship, it is unconscionable that they have been jailed on the allegation that they are.

CNN, reporting on the incident, cites unspecified Pakistani human rights groups who say the 400,000 men living as women in the country are not breaking the law against homosexuality because they are not gay. These “khusras” gained recognition as a minority from the Pakistani Supreme Court last year, but still face ostracism.

The couple in Malawi also consists of a man and a person most likely a transgender woman, but whom one report says could be intersex.

It remains to be seen whether the White House and/or State Department will speak out on behalf of the Pakistanis, as they did for the Malawi couple and in response to a harsh anti-gay bill in Uganda. Our nation’s relationship with Pakistan, on the border of Afghanistan, is both more strategic and more fragile.

In Uganda and Malawi, too, the U.S. could use the lever of funds from the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Both Senate and House resolutions condemning the Uganda bill noted that anti-homosexuality laws undermine U.S. efforts to combat AIDS through PEPFAR and other means. While not a direct threat to withdraw funds, the implication seems clear. Pakistan, however, does not receive PEPFAR funds.

Still, we should not allow human rights abuses such as this to go unchecked. The U.S. should demand the release of Iqbal and Rani, and the State Department should continue to push for the decriminalization of homosexuality — and of relationships involving transgender and intersex people, no matter how a country labels them — around the globe.

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons