Pakistan

Same-sex relations are prohibited in Pakistan under Section 377 of the penal code, a colonial-era provision that prescribes two years to life imprisonment, fines, or both for “carnal intercourse against the order of nature.” Laws against “obscene acts” and “unnatural offenses” remain in force. Even when they rarely result in convictions, they contribute to widespread antipathy toward sexual and gender minorities and enable police harassment, blackmail, and arbitrary arrest. Same-sex marriages or civil unions are not permitted or seriously discussed in mainstream politics, and there is no comprehensive anti‑discrimination law that explicitly protects people on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or sex characteristics.

Transgender and intersex people occupy a complex position in society, with a somewhat more visible legal status compared to lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals. Third-gender people known locally as Khawaja Sira are often viewed simultaneously as bearers of good fortune and as social outcasts. The Transgender Person (Protection of Rights) Act of 2018 allows anyone whose gender does not conform to their sex assigned at birth to change their legal gender based on self-determination. The act further enshrines protection from discrimination in housing, employment, voting, and education. Nevertheless, social exclusion, harassment, and stigmatization of Khawaja Sira, trans, intersex, and gender nonconforming Pakistanis persist despite these legal protections. 

In 2023, the Federal Shariat Court of Pakistan (FSC) struck down the operative provisions of self-determined identity and certain inheritance rights, declaring them inconsistent with Islamic law. Religious parties and petitioners portrayed the 2018 Transgender Persons Act as a vehicle for “homosexuality” and moral corruption, proposing amendments that would medicalize gender recognition and criminalize gender‑affirming health care. The FSC did, however, acknowledge the existence of intersex people in Islamic law and said intersex individuals should receive fundamental constitutional rights. That notwithstanding, without clear legal protection or inheritance rights and in the context of ongoing social prejudice, many intersex individuals are pushed into informal work, including exploited roles within Khawaja Sira communities. 

While activists have appealed the FSC ruling, the judgment has created uncertainty. Officials have used it to restrict or delay access to some of the law’s benefits, including legal gender recognition procedures. Elements of the 2018 Act continue to operate pending the final outcome of the appeal, and courts have at times affirmed transgender people’s political and civil rights.

During the 2024 elections, three trans candidates ran for provincial and national seats. One of them, Nayyab Ali, had her candidacy challenged in court. However, the High Court of Islamabad has upheld transgender persons’ right to contest elections. 

Politicians and influential religious leaders frequently denounce homosexuality, and sexual and gender minorities more broadly, as “un-Islamic” and “immoral.” Public officials have used the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, passed in 2016, alongside broader content‑regulation powers, to censor websites addressing LGBTIQ issues, block dating apps and other online platforms used by men who have sex with men and trans women, and remove content perceived as sympathetic to sexual and gender minorities. Pakistani media often frame transgender and LGBTIQ communities as antisocial and threatening to “social values,” with repetitive stereotyping, misgendering, and stigmatizing coverage that reinforces prejudice and fear.