MALAYSIA: Big Win For Trans Rights

Three Malaysian transgender women have won a landmark civil rights case. Via Agence France-Presse:

A three-judge appeals court panel ruled that a state provision that bars Muslim men from dressing as women was unconstitutional, saying it "deprives the appellants of the right to live with dignity". "It has the effect of denying the appellants and other sufferers of GID (gender identify disorder) to move freely in public places... This is degrading, oppressive and inhuman," judge Hishamudin Yunus said.

The verdict overturns a 2012 lower court ruling, which had dismissed the challenge by the three appellants -- Muslims who were born male but identify as women -- over their arrest four years ago under the law in southern Negri Sembilan state. Malaysia has a double track court system with state Islamic laws governing civil matters for Muslims, who account for 60 per cent of the country’s 30 million people.

Under state Islamic laws, men dressing or acting as women is punishable by up to three years in jail. Some Malaysian states also outlaw cross-dressing by women. Aston Paiva, the plaintiffs’ lawyer, said the ruling could be used to challenge any arrest of transgender people throughout Malaysia. "It’s quite historic... This will be a precedent... This court binds all other high courts," Paiva said.

Malaysia continues to criminalize homosexuality under laws that go back its time as a British colony.